The EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) is meeting for the last time before the European elections, in Leuven on 4 and 5 April. Once again, the two partners are not expected to make any major announcements. Above all, TTC participants want it to be understood that this forum is relevant and needs to be maintained.
Some Member States are already regretting the lack of concrete, far-reaching measures in the draft joint declaration to be published at the end of the meeting, to which Agence Europe has had access. While the text is generally considered to be “well balanced” by the EU27, some delegations would like to see a passage on the controversial trade issues between the EU and Washington, as with previous declarations.
The fifteen-page draft declaration prepared by the Commission will have to be negotiated with the US in the next few days. It should be accompanied by several annexes, including a joint declaration on “clean energy incentives”, i.e., subsidies for the green transition.
The text should set out key principles to which both partners should commit. They should, for example, “share specific information about respective public incentive programs and support granted”.
Going further, the EU and the US plan to commit to limiting “subsidies to what is necessary, appropriate, and proportionate to achieve public policy objectives”.
At this stage, the draft declaration contains some thoughts on the future of the TTC. “To complement these [thoughts – editor’s note] we plan to set up a structured process with EU and US stakeholders to seek their views on the progress and achievements”.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, mentioned stakeholder consultation as a way of improving the TTC at the last meeting in January. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)