In light of the next negotiating round taking place next week, the European Commission’s DG Trade has published details of a stakeholder forum taking place on Wednesday 21 October. This will provide an update on the negotiations, and solicit input and feedback from interested stakeholders.
This move comes shortly after the recent announcement that “Stop TTIP” had received over 3 million signatures to its self-organised European Citizens Initiative. This initiative has been coordinated by a coalition of groups since the Commission refused the initial 2014 request to register an official ECI.
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In addition to the formal negotiating round, TTIP negotiating sessions on regulatory sectors, energy and raw materials, and government procurement will also be held this week in Washington.
The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which covers 12 countries and an estimated 40 % of global trade, on October 5 has raised hopes in Brussels that the US will now be able to afford more attention to the TTIP negotiations. Indeed, the closing of the negotiations was welcomed by the liberals and centre-left in the European Parliament who hoped that it would pave the way for further progress on TTIP.
Marietje Schaake, the co-ordinator for the ALDE group in the European Parliament's trade committee, said: "It is important to see trade embedded in rules, preferably globally. I am glad that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which had been in its final stages for a very long time, is now concluded. On the US side, this will free up valuable time, energy and political capital to invest in the negotiations in TTIP."
Meanwhile David Martin, the S&D spokesperson on trade, commented: "I hope now our partner countries in the TPP bloc can intensify negotiations with the EU with ambitious offers in our bilateral trade talks."
However, not all MEPs were as positive about the potential impact of the TTP negotiations. Far-left MEP Helmut Scholz warned that the US would use TPP as a benchmark for TTIP, saying that “many aspects of TTP would totally unacceptable” to Europeans.
The upcoming negotiations will be the first formal meetings between the EU and US since the European Commission’s draft proposal to reform the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), a response to the Parliament's resolution adopted before the summer
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