Brussels, 01/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and US Trade Representative Mile Froman, who met for the sixth time since the start of the year in Stockholm on Tuesday 31 May to inject fresh political impetus into EU-US free-trade talks (TTIP), once again said that they believed that agreement in principle could be reached before the end of the year.
“We believe that it is still possible and we will work for that, doing all we can to reach that agreement before the end of the year. It's difficult but that's what we're trying to do”, Malmström said at a press briefing.
“There's still a lot of work to be done, there's no doubt of that”, added Froman, urging that there be no faltering. “There's no plan B. People need to be careful not to downplay what will happen if we miss this opportunity”, he said in a debate. “We either work together to help set the rules of the world or we leave that role to others”, he stressed.
When asked out France's reservations, wanting the United States to go “much further” in its concessions on access to public procurement markets and protection of geographical indications, as President François Hollande made clear yet again on the sidelines of the G7 meeting on 27 May, Froman underlined that the talks “must bring a result that suits all the parties”. “We very much appreciate European products, French products and we want to make sure that they have access to our markets in the same way that we want to have access to European markets”, he added.
Commission looking for member states' support before 14th round. The Commission spokesperson said on Monday 30 May that, at the European Council in Brussels on 28 and 29 June, President Jean-Claude Juncker would ask member state leaders to confirm their support for the TTIP negotiations ahead of the 14th round of talks that will take place in Brussels in July.
“President Juncker will ask EU leaders to re-confirm the Commission's mandate for conducting these negotiations. We have to be sure that we are all moving in the same direction”, the commission spokesperson said.
Despite some progress made on consolidating the texts in the regulation and rules pillars at the 13th round of talks in New York at the end of April, much work remains to be done and bridges to be built if EU offensive interests - access to service markets and public procurement markets, protection of geographical interests - are to be satisfied so that agreement in principle can be achieved before the end of 2016. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)