The farewell to Ttip it's getting closer. There France intends to ask the European Commission tostop talks with the United States on the "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership", the controversial free trade treaty between the EU and the US. He announced it the French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Matthias Fekl, speaking on Radio Rmc.
“France's support for the negotiations is gone – said Fekl -. France calls for an end to the negotiations. The Americans concede nothing but crumbs, but that's not how you negotiate between allies. Relations between Europe and the United States must resume on good foundations. We need a clear and definitive setback on these negotiations."
France will formalize its request at the next European summit in Bratislava among foreign trade ministers.
Fekl's words come the day after thespeech by Sigmar Gabriel, German vice-chancellor and economy minister, who spoke to the microphones of the German network Zdf even more definitively than those of the French secretary: “The negotiations on the TTIP have failed. Europe cannot accept American requests”.
The position of theItaly. "It will take time, but an agreement on the Ttip is essential for Italian exports”, said the Minister for Economic Development, Carlo Calenda, in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
“It is true that the American offers are still unsatisfactory – explained Calenda – and it is difficult to close the agreement within the Obama presidency, as we had also said two months ago. After all, for a commercial agreement of this size, two and a half years of negotiations are not many”.
Yet, according to the minister, in the end the agreement on the TTIP “will close, it is inevitable. The United States is our main economic and political partner. If we don't negotiate with them who else should we? For Italy, this agreement is essential. The USA is the market with the highest development potential for our exports”.
Also Brussels refuses to consider the game over. “The European Commission has made steady progress in the current TTIP negotiations,” said the European Commission spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, recalling that the EU executive "has received a unanimous negotiating mandate from the member states to negotiate this agreement".
