The European Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, has warned that it is possible that negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the US for a free trade agreement and investment, known as TTIP, are not finished this year.
“We need a quick deal, but a good deal,” said Malmstrom to the Informal Meeting of European Ministers of Trade in the Latvian capital, focused on EU economic opening to the outside and on issues such as the negotiation with the US.
The EU needs time to develop its version of the system for resolving disputes investors and states (ISDS, in English), which differs from that proposed by Washington, according to the Commissioner. Certain sectors of civil society and political groups like the European Greens and United Left (GUE / NGL) criticized this mechanism, considering that has little democratic legitimacy and that may undermine the ability of governments to defend through legislation national public interests.
Community sources expressed concern about a possible delay in the negotiations, recalling that the US faces presidential elections next year and the risk that the TTIP longer a priority or be politicized during the campaigns for the White House and run Congress.
