Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Enterprise Mary Mitchell O'Connor is to meet EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom in Brussels today amid growing doubts about the future of the EU-US trade deal.
The meeting, which will be the first encounter between an Irish Cabinet Minister and the European Commission since last week’s ruling against Apple, comes against a background of deepening uncertainty about the future of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) following comments from senior members of the French and German governments.
On Thursday, French prime minister Manuel Valls demanded a “clear halt” to the negotiations, describing the agreement on the table as “unacceptable”.
“We need a clear halt in order to resume from a new basis,” he said. “Since the beginning, France has made its demands very clear. But when we look where we are, none of these have been taken into account.”
His comments echo those of French foreign trade minister Matthias Fekl, who said the negotiations should cease. Germany’s economy minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said he believed the negotiations with the US had “de facto failed” , highlighting the lack of progress so far.
Through German chancellor Angela Merkel later underlined her support for the deal, public opinion in Germany is highly sceptical of TTIP.
With German and French elections looming next year, the leaders of both countries are wary of endorsing a transatlantic trade agreement that has minimal support among the electorate.
The European Commission last week said the trade negotiations were on track and Brussels hopes to conclude the deal by the end of the year before the end of the Obama administration.
The Irish Government has been strongly supportive of the proposed EU-US trade deal, which was launched under the Irish presidency of the EU in June 2013, and Ms Mitchell O’Connor is expected to call for negotiators to continue progressing the deal.
But Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy welcomed the comments by the French and German ministers, arguing that TTIP would pose a threat to Irish interests and the welfare of Irish citizens.
He also called on the Government to reject the EU-Canada trade deal known as CETA , when it comes before the Dáil.
In a blow to supporters of CETA, the European Commission ruled in July that the deal must be ratified by each EU member state’s national parliament, as well as some federal parliaments.
Austria is among the countries to have suggested it could block the deal.
The decision to allow national parliaments to ratify the EU-Canada deal could have implications for both TTIP and Britain’s future trade relationship with the EU which may need to be ratified by individual parliaments.
The concept of the EU-US trade deal has been shrouded in controversy since it was endorsed by EU member states more than three years ago, meeting strong public opposition particularly in member states such as Germany and Austria.
The deal, which aims to boost economic growth by harmonising regulations and standards between the EU and the US, has been hit with accusations that it could lower Europe’s food and health standards, and lead to unfair competition from American exporters.
Ms Mitchell O’Connor will also meet Elzbieta Bienkowska, European commissioner for internal markets and Vicky Ford, the head of the European Parliament’s internal markets committee, where she is expected to stress Ireland’s position regarding the trade implications of Brexit.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, the minister said it was crucial that the EU institutions, at the highest level, “fully appreciate the potential impacts for Ireland at the earliest stage, before any detailed negotiation process that will prepare the terms for the UK’s departure and its future relationship with the Union.”
