France – at the moment – he says no to the Ttip. President François Hollande has decided to slow down negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or the free trade treaty between the US and Europe. He declared it in a radio interview with Europe 1, arguing that the government is not at all convinced: "We cannot accept - said Hollande - an unregulated free trade, which jeopardizes our agriculture and our culture".
“We are not convinced by the American spirit – added the Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl -: we want more reciprocity. Europe offers a lot and receives little in return. At the moment we are for the interruption of the negotiation ". Point of view exactly opposite to that of Sandro Gozi, undersecretary to the Italian Prime Minister, who also spoke to Europe 1: "The agreements are a great opportunity for our businesses, they will help us grow the GDP of European countries".
The TTIP has also ended up in the crosshairs of environmentalists, in particular of Greenpeace who in a long report denounces the risks "for health and for the environment". At the moment the French government is the only one that has picked up this alarm bell, but it doesn't intend to give up: "An agreement without France, and even less against France, is impossible," said Fekl.
But what is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)?
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, was proposed in 2013. Since then there have been thirteen rounds of negotiations, the last of which took place in New York in April 2016. The next negotiations will take place in June. The negotiators plan to conclude the work in 2016, but the latest meetings have taken place without any particular progress.
The president of the United States Barack Obama he said he wanted to close the deal before the end of his mandate. Following the conclusion of the negotiations, the project will have to be approved by the 28 governments of the European Union, by the European Parliament and by the 28 parliaments of the countries of the Union, which could also hold referendums. Here's what the agreement provides and what the citizens of many European countries contest the points.
– The main objectives of the TTIP are the opening of a free trade area between the United States and the European Union, the reduction of customs duties for companies that trade between the two areas and the approval of new laws that favor trade between the two blocks, eliminating regulatory and administrative differences.
– The treaty will cover 40 percent of world trade turnover and it will apply to very different areas, subject to uneven legislation, from the cultural to the food market.
– In Europe, the treaty has been much criticized and there have been demonstrations to ask for its blocking. The fear of the Europeans is that the Ttpi lower safety standards foreseen in Europe to meet the requests of the United States. More than two million European citizens have signed a petition calling for the negotiations to stop.
– According to the information that was leaked, i European governments are by no means united on the many measures envisaged by the agreement (France, which had obtained the exclusion of the audiovisual sector from the treaty in the name of the cultural exception, continues to be particularly wary), but it is unlikely that they will revoke or modify the mandate deal assigned to the Commission.
– Among the most discussed issues is the “Investor-State Dispute Resolution” (Investor-state dispute settlement, Isds). The treaty would allow companies to sue governments before an arbitration panel. In this way, argues those who criticize the TTIP, the ISDS would give multinationals the possibility of obstructing any law that goes against their interests.
