‘Transparency needed to de-mystify EU-US trade agreement’ – Economy Minister

Chamber of Commerce President says TTIP agreement will add 0.5% to GDP growth annually in EU and create 1.3 million jobs in the EU over the next 10 years

Details about a proposed free-trade agreement between the EU and the United States must become more transparent so as to “demystify” the deal, Economy Minister Chris Cardona said.

“People must start to see this deal for what it really is, a way to finally liberalise trade between the EU and the US,” Cardona said of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Speaking at a conference to discuss the impact that TTIP would have on Malta, the President of the Employers’ Group within the European Economic and Social Committee sought to dispel some fears that have surrounded the deal.

“it is not true that the TTIP will only benefit multinational corporations,” Jacek Krawczyk said. “Indeed, small and medium businesses will benefit from the elimination of tariffs and other trade barriers between the EU and the US.

“Nor is it true that the deal will lower Europe’s workers’ rights standards.”

Anti-TTIP activists are concerned that the setting up of an investment-to-state-dispute-settlement (ISDS) mechanism within the TTIP will allow multinational corporations to settle disputes with governments through international arbitration rather than through national courts.

While he admitted that the ISDS may needs some reform, Krawczyk insisted that the ISPS was crucial in allowing businesses to settle disputes.

Chamber of Commerce President David Curmi said that the TTIP will add 0.5% to GDP growth annually in the EU and create 1.3 million jobs in the EU over the next 10 years.

“There is no doubt that commercial relations between Europe and the United States are well established,” Curmi said. “The two economies together account for more than half of the world’s GDP in value and for a third of world trade flows. TTIP has the aim to further enhance the relationship between the two economic blocs via enhanced rules for market access. This ensures cheaper, swifter and vaster trade between the EU or the US to the benefit of business and investment.

US ambassador to Malta Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley described the TTIP as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for the United States and the EU to strengthen their economic and political ties with each other.

“Emerging markets and new forms of technology are changing the world,” she said. “The EU and the US have the most complex economic relationship in the world and they should set the rules of the road for the years ahead.”

She insisted that the TTIP won’t come at the cost of workers’ rights, safe food, and the environment.

“It can prove that regulation doesn’t need to be sacrificed in favour of free trade,” Abercrombie-Winstanley said.