Brussels, 03/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 February, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said she hoped to bring the negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) close to their final phase by the summer, so that TTIP might be concluded by the end of US President Barack Obama's term of office.
“We have to be approaching the endgame by the summer, but first we need to make sure that we have consolidated texts on almost all issues so that there are only the very last sensitivities remaining”, Malmström told press at the end of the informal meeting of EU trade ministers in Amsterdam on Tuesday. The EU and US have therefore scheduled three rounds of negotiations by the summer - in February, April and June - she said.
“We are stepping up the game considerably. We are determined on both sides to work really hard to see if we can finish this by the end of the year under the Obama administration. Of course lots of work remains, but we also have achieved quite a lot. Ministers have been very supportive in trying to defend our interest”, Malmström added.
The TTIP negotiations entered a political phase at the 11th round of talks in Miami in October 2015, where the parties exchanged their revised tariff offers (see EUROPE 11471).
Malmström has announced that discussions on services, discussions on the regulatory chapter, and an initial exchange of views on the EU proposals for the protection of investments and the investment court that were presented last autumn (see EUROPE 11429) will dominate the agenda of the 12th round of negotiations in Brussels during the week of 22 February. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)