Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) called for parliamentary involvement in the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) on Tuesday 26 October. They discussed this with EU Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis (Trade) and Margrethe Vestager (Europe Fit for the Digital Age, and Competition).
“How could we be involved in the TTC?”, asked Dragoș Tudorache (Renew Europe, Romania), joined by his colleagues from the S&D and the Greens/EFA Groups. “I believe we should learn from the experience with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Transparency and inclusion of parliamentary participation and civil society is crucial”, insisted Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA, Germany).
Indeed, two Parliament members expressed concern about the scope of the TTC and its long-term objectives. “Will the TTC prepare decisions to circumvent democratic process, namely the European Parliament, national parliaments and Congress?”, asked Helmut Scholz (The Left, Germany). His colleague Ana Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, Germany) joined him on this point: “It is important that you don’t agree on something that could go against what we discuss in Parliament”.
Both Commissioners were keen to reassure MEPs on these two points. “The TTC is not the TTIP. It’s a cooperation framework between the US and the EU. We’re not negotiating legally binding agreements there”, insisted Valdis Dombrovskis.
They also assured the elected officials that they would come back to make a presentation to the INTA Committee before the next TTC meeting. “The date and venue for the next meeting is not set but it should be spring next year in the EU”, said Margrethe Vestager.
Cooperation on foreign subsidies
Several MEPs on the right and left asked the Commission about the different ways of working with the US on unfair foreign subsidies. The Commission made its proposal for a Regulation in May to combat these unfair practices in the internal market (see EUROPE 12713/1, 12820/15).
For Ms Vestager, it is “important for us to lead the way” on this issue, as the US has no control system for State aid. Mr Dombrovskis also sees great potential for cooperation. “This may fall under global challenges or investment screening working groups. We can compare approaches, see how we can best advance, and find common approaches”, he said.
A few days earlier, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, asked by EUROPE on the subject, said she was keen to explore the issue with her European counterparts in the short term. As for the ways in which this can be done, she says that this is “a great question”.
MEPs also called on the European Commission to take advantage of the TTC to learn from the US work on forced labour and child labour.
Finally, INTA Committee Chairman Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) asked the Commission about the commitments to be met under the TTC and the timetable for them. The Commissioner for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age replied that there was a timetable to be respected. “We have close political monitoring, Deputies every three months, two political meetings per year. That gives a number of firm deadlines”. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)