Brussels, 23/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - In an opinion adopted on Tuesday 22 March, the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council (ESEC) demands more transparency in the negotiations for an EU-US free trade (TTIP) agreement. It also demands that regulatory convergence through the future agreement does not lead to a lowering of sanitary, social or environmental standards.
The opinion, drafted by Christophe Quarez (CFDT group) on behalf of the European and international affairs section of the French ESEC and at the request of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, puts forward a series of recommendations for strengthening the French position on the TTIP negotiations.
Shortcomings in transparency. First and foremost, the French ESEC wants more ambition with regard to transparency. Given the stakes in TTIP, it considers that recent progress on transparency, including the European Commission's decision to open the consultation of documents linked to the TTIP negotiations up to all European and national parliamentarians, is “still not enough”. It also considers it “essential” to guarantee more transparency with regard to civil society by publishing detailed documents.
Furthermore, the French ESEC calls for the publication, after each round of technical level negotiation, of a scoreboard on the state of progress of the negotiations, highlighting the progress achieved or obstacles encountered. This document, which would be accompanied by consolidated negotiation texts, should be published in French. The French ESEC also advocates granting civil society organisations an observer position, and it advocates holding a big public debate on TTIP at national and EU level, which would be open to all stakeholders (including businesses, organisations and citizens).
Regulatory convergence towards sustainable development. Secondly, the ESEC recommends integrating TTIP into a perspective of sustainable development. As far as the French ESEC is concerned, regulatory convergence must not lead to a lowering of sanitary, social or environmental standards. The ESEC therefore calls for the best-bidder requirement to be placed at the centre of the negotiations, identifying, sector by sector and with the relevant organisations, the most protective standards from the tax, financial, sanitary, social and environmental point of view, on both sides of the Atlantic. It calls for harmonisation to be favoured rather than mutual recognition for standards on health and work safety, respecting international standards and transparency rules.
The French ESEC also calls for social and environmental standards to be strengthened and respected, arguing for commitments in terms of sustainable development to be legally binding, and for corporate social responsibility to be promoted.
The ESEC also calls for democratic control of the joint future regulatory cooperation body, the competences of which will have to be very clearly delimited. The activities of its members will also have to be put under the control of the European Parliament in order to avoid any conflict of interests.
In addition, the ESEC calls for assurances that TTIP will integrate the climate commitments taken as part of COP21 at the end of 2015, in order to guarantee ecological transition on both sides of the Atlantic.
The French ESEC also reiterates its “firm opposition” to including in TTIP certain parts of sectors that are essential such as health, social services, education, culture and defence.
Improving ICS and investment protection. Thirdly, as regards the issue of investment protection, the French ESEC calls for reconsideration of the EU proposal for an Investment Court System (ICS) to rule on disputes between investors and states.
In the ESEC's opinion, the inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism is a “true geostrategic asset” for the global-level promotion of a renewed model of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), with the objective of achieving the creation of a permanent international jurisdiction on this. “Without such a mechanism, the courts are led to building on different principles of international law with hazy contours, opening the opportunity for different and even unreasonable interpretations that are able to challenge the sovereign power of states to rule in the public interest”, it states.
Building on the Commission's proposal, the ESEC sets out a series of recommendations aiming to ensure the fair balance between the legitimate protection of investors, on the one hand, and the protection of the rights of states to rule and respect for social and environmental standards, on the other, including: - the inclusion in the treaty of an arrangement giving precedence to the notion of public interest and the respect of standards; - the introduction of more precise definitions for certain legal notions in order to avoid interpretations that are too extensive or unreasonable; - the exhaustion of avenues of internal appeal before filing an application; - the creation of a court of appeal; - the establishment of a code of conduct for the judges; - the establishment of rules to avoid conflicts of interest; - a limit on penalties demanded by investors; - sanctions against the abusive use of arbitration mechanisms. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)