Reform Number 4 for a New Era: Less Naivete in European-American Negotiations

Faced with the Americans, European negotiators for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership must combine realism and transparency.

Rarely have international negotiations caused such debate. All euroskeptics — environmentalists, alter-globalists, separatists — rage against the implications of the vast free trade agreement, the TTIP, which the European Commission is negotiating with the United States.*

The original idea of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is to promote exchanges between the two sides of the Atlantic by standardizing norms that they say restrict trade, and to create a market of 820 million consumers. But discussions began two years ago, without anyone really knowing the precise mandate given by the Council to the European Commission. This lack of transparency, however, failed to shut down discussions.

Should Negotiations Be Suspended?

Since June, the National Security Agency wiretapping scandal has tainted the debates to such an extent that some, such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a French member of the European Parliament, and François Fillon, a former French prime minister, are asking if Europe has been too naive and whether it should have suspended negotiations. The ”empty chair” approach whereby a politician refuses to attend talks — so dear to the French since the time of President de Gaulle — would undoubtedly not resolve the problem and would also border on credulity, but moderate critics of the agreement would like to establish protective measures for consideration.

Each side has its desires and grievances. The Greens don’t want to sacrifice environmental standards for a few extra commercial exchanges; the separatists reject the arbitrating courts’ pro-business and anti-state perspective; and trade unions fear deregulation of European working rights in order to move closer to American standards. The European Union might believe there will be a win-win outcome with the United States, but it will not be without limitations.

*Editor’s note: Euroskeptic, also Eurosceptic, is a person opposed to increasing the powers of the European Union. Alter-globalization, also known as alternative globalization, is the name of a social movement whose proponents support global cooperation and interaction, but oppose what they describe as the negative effects of economic globalization.