EU minister calls for firm commitment to EU, US free trade agreement agenda

The EU minister has argued that the agreement would collapse if the European leaders bowed to pressure to remove investment protection from any agreement. The US and the EU are currently trying to seal a FTA which could bring economic gains of around USD 100 billion a year for each side.

But progress has slowed partly due to stiff resistance from environmental groups and Germany to the trade pacts Investor-State Dispute Settlement Clause (ISDS), which allows companies to take cross-border legal action against governments. Critics have said that investment protection should be removed from the EUs negotiating mandate.

Carlo Calenda, Italys deputy industry minister, has claimed that should EU stray away from its commitment, it would be the same decision as to abandon the negotiations, the source reports. He also said that Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) had to be part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, as the EU-US free trade deal would be known.

Otherwise, he stressed, EU could not issue an ISDS clause with China or Vietnam. EU is using ISDS clauses all around the world and EU writes an ISDS clause without any prejudice for the power of the state, Calenda concluded.

The European Commission, which handles trade negotiations on behalf of the 28-member European Union, has suspended talks on investment protection pending a public consultation, the results of which are expected to be published in December 2014.