On Thursday 9 November, a diplomatic source close to the issue told EUROPE that the EU Council's adoption of the mandates proposed by the European Commission in September to negotiate free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand will await the internal debate within the EU (at the technical and then political level) on the new architecture of the trade agreements.
The discussions on these negotiation mandates hang on the broader debate on the Commission's recent proposal for a new architecture for the free trade agreements the EU will negotiate with third countries in order to ensure their fast track ratification.
This approach involves providing for a separation, in trade agreements, between chapters on trade aspects (which relate to the specific competence of the EU and which could be ratified swiftly by the European Parliament and governments of EU countries at the Council) and chapters on investment and investment protection (which relate to a shared competence between the EU and its member states, and require the approval of national parliaments).
The Council will discuss the new architecture of the EU trade agreements at technical level during a meeting of the committee in charge of trade policy on 24 November. The issue will then be put to ministerial level for a decision, the source told EUROPE on Thursday.
"It is important for the debate to be concluded in order to be able to adopt the negotiation mandates (with Australia and New Zealand). As we have seen with the ratification of CETA, there is an underlying problem. There are expectations from the public about the balance to be found between an open Europe and a Europe that protects", a French diplomatic source told EUROPE.
In order not to postpone the settlement of this issue at ministerial level to a Trade Council at the start of 2018, and, therefore, in order not to slow down the launch of talks with Australia and New Zealand, France has suggested that the debate be carried to the EU trade ministers meeting on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on 10-13 December. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)