Brussels, 06/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - During the meeting of EU and US leaders on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Warsaw on Friday 8 July, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are expected to step up pressure on the US administration to make concessions on opening up public procurement as part of the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP).
With a new round (the 14th) of technical level negotiations coming up in Brussels next week (11-15 July), the message at the last G7 in Ise-Shima at the end of May calling for work on TTIP to be stepped up “will be repeated on Friday”, a senior European official told EUROPE on Wednesday 6 July. However, the EU is expected to demand better consideration of its offensive interests, particularly on access to US public procurement.
“The message from the EU will be: we are happy to intensify our work on TTIP, but we need even more before - a sense that you are willing to address the kinds of concerns, the kinds of interests that the EU has (for instance, public procurement). I think that will be the theme of the conversations”, the same source stated. “Yes, intensify, but more than ever you need to address our concerns. Otherwise it will be very difficult”, the source continued.
Despite the progress made at the 13th round of negotiations in New York at the end of April (see EUROPE 11453) with regard to consolidation of the texts in the regulatory convergence and rules pillars, there is still work to be done and bridges to be built in order to satisfy the EU's offensive interests (services, public procurement, geographical indications) and to reach an agreement in principle by the end of 2016, as both parties would like.
Alongside the technical level negotiations, the Commission and US administration are trying to maintain momentum at political level. European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström therefore visited Washington on Tuesday 28 June for the seventh bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Mike Froman since the start of 2016.
While there, Malmström spoke to the Atlantic Council think tank and underlined the need for TTIP to provide for increased market access for services, ambitious arrangements on sustainable development, solutions to protect geographical indications and increased openness of US public procurement.
“We know procurement is a sensitive issue in the US. And we are ready to explore an ambitious outcome that takes these sensitivities into account. But it's essential that the US fully understands that in Europe it's the current imbalance that's the highly sensitive issue. A substantial improvement is needed on market access opportunities at all levels of government (…) What the EU is looking for - on procurement, services, regulatory cooperation, geographical indications and investment - is doable, as long as the political will is there”, Malmström had stated. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)