Brussels, 22/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - Exacting standards will be maintained, agriculture protected and transparency increased. In the run-up to the 12th round of free-trade talks between the EU and the United States (TTIP) in Brussels this week, European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström (Trade) and Pierre Moscovici (Economic Affairs) were keen to provide fresh assurances that the European economy would not be sacrificed on the altar of transatlantic free trade.
“There will be no transatlantic treaty that will be harmful to European and French agriculture”, Moscovici stated on French television channel France 5 on Sunday 21 February. “It is completely out of the question that a treaty will be accepted in which health standards are weakened, public procurement destabilised, employment threatened or agriculture threatened”, he added. He argued that, on the contrary, Europe has “more to gain” from TTIP than the US since “the American market is more closed than Europe's”. That said, “the EU will only accept a treaty of this sort if has been well negotiated, that is to say, if it is balanced, including with regard to agriculture”, he stressed.
Malmström, in Paris on Friday 19 February to meet French Secretary of State for Trade Mathias Fekl, gave assurances that the EU was doing “the maximum” to ensure transparency in the TTIP talks. “Virtually all the EU proposals have been published in the internet so everyone can read them”, she made clear at a press briefing, pointing out, however, that the other documents, including those submitted by the United States, could not be made public. She argued that a degree of secrecy was required in negotiations. “Negotiations on a relatively sensitive issue cannot be carried out in front of the cameras”, she stated.
“Transparency is a bit the original sin of these negotiations”, regretted Fekl, expressing the view that, henceforth, talks could no longer take place behind closed doors as previously. Only a few weeks ago, parliamentarians and members of government could only consult the documents being negotiated in secure reading rooms in US embassies, an “unacceptable” situation, in Fekl's opinion. “We now have reading rooms in the member states that allow national parliamentarians access to the documents. This is a big step forward but it does not resolve all the problems”, he said, calling for more to be done.
Malmström repeated on Friday that TTIP would not lower European standards, pledging that the EU was “vigilant” on such matters. Agri-food safety standards would not be modified to promote the entry of American products onto the European market, Fekl made clear, stressing that this was a “red line”. “We will pay great attention to food quality”, he stressed, reiterating his opposition to chicken that has been washed in chlorine making its way onto the French market. “Our goal is to defend French produce”, he promised.
Action by Greenpeace. Condemning the lack of transparency in the TTIP negotiations, the risks of lower standards and the new investment protection scheme promised by the EU, some 30 activists from the environmental NGO Greenpeace demonstrated at the opening of the 12th round of TTIP talks, in Brussels on Monday. After chaining themselves to the doors of the building where the talks were due to take place, they prevented negotiators from getting down to work until they had been removed by Belgian police. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)