Trade Minister Bricq talks of US ambivalence

France wants EU, US trade talks mandate published

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NEOnline

29/07/2013 - 8:06pm

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France called on Monday for the European Commission to publish its mandate to negotiate an EU-US free-trade deal, citing what it said was an atmosphere of mistrust during the first round of talks held earlier in July. 

The US and EU launched negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which if signed will be the biggest free trade deal in history, on July 8 despite French objections. France wanted initially to ensure that its cultural industry subsidies would stay off the negotiating table - which it has reportedly secured. Following revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden about extensive US surveillance of citizens and foreign governments, Paris asked for the talks to be postponed. 

But despite European concerns about US spying, the talks, which were in preparation for nearly two years, went ahead. They are expected to resume in October. 

"The first week of discussions on a transatlantic partnership agreement closed in a climate of doubt," Trade Minister Nicole Bricq wrote in French newspaper Liberation

"The US once again showed its splendid ambivalence. It is a country where everything seems possible and whose dynamism and energy we French envy. At the same time it is a prickly power incapable of resisting the temptations its supremacy gives it."

Bricq said she had asked EU Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, to break with usual procedure and make the EU's negotiation mandate public.

"It doesn't contain any secrets. It's a political statement that calls for an agreement that respects our values and interests. It deserves to be debated," she said.

The Commission said that any such decision could only be taken by the EU Council.

"It is a legal decision to be made by France along with all other member states as this is a Council document," Commission spokesman for trade policy John Clancy said by email, reports Reuters news agency.

Typically, countries do not publish their negotiating mandates. But Bricq said that "if the talks with United States are for a partnership, and if we are working as equals, then our practices need to change so that we speak the same language," she said.

She added that the Commission should regularly inform the European Parliament of the progress of the talks and not just at the end of each round as it is currently obliged to do.