BERLIN: Free trade talks between the European Union and the United States have failed, Germany’s economy minister said Sunday, citing a lack of progress on any of the major sections of the long-running negotiations.
Both Washington and Brussels have pushed for a deal by the end of the year, despite strong misgivings among some EU member states over the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP.
Sigmar Gabriel, who is also Germany’s Vice-Chancellor, compared the TTIP negotiations unfavourably with a free trade deal forged between the 28-nation EU and Canada, which he said was fairer for both sides.
“In my opinion, the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it,” Gabriel said during a question-and-answer session with citizens in Berlin.
He noted that in 14 rounds of talks, the two sides haven’t agreed on a single common item out of 27 chapters being discussed.
Gabriel accused Washington of being “angry” about the deal that the EU struck with Canada, known as CETA, because it contains elements the US doesn’t want to see in the TTIP.
“We mustn’t submit to the American proposals,” said Gabriel, who is also the head of Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic Party.
Gabriel’s ministry isn’t directly involved in the negotiations with Washington because trade agreements are negotiated at the EU level. But such a damning verdict from a leading official in Europe’s biggest economy is likely to make further talks between the EU executive and the Obama administration harder.
Gabriel’s comments contrast with those of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said last month that TTIP was “absolutely in Europe’s interest.”
Popular opposition to a free trade agreement with the United States is strong in Germany. Campaigners have called for nationwide protests against the talks on September 17 — about year before Germany’s next general election.
Merkel’s vice chancellor says Brexit makes Europe look unstable
Berlin: German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said the UK’s vote to leave the European Union is creating a sense of instability and will lead to “big problems” if policy makers mishandle the Brexit process.
While Britain’s exit “won’t hurt us economically as much as many fear,” it’s “a huge problem politically,” Gabriel, who leads Germany’s Social Democratic Party, said at a town hall-style event in Berlin on Sunday. “The world is looking at Europe as an unstable continent.”
Gabriel reinforced Chancellor Angela Merkel’s message that Prime Minister Theresa May can’t expect to cherry-pick the EU’s advantages once the UK triggers the bloc’s exit clause and talks on a new relationship begin. For her part, Merkel spent last week sounding out fellow EU leaders ahead of a summit next month to map the 27 remaining countries’ response to Brexit. She plans to meet French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on separate trips this week. “We can run into really big problems if we organize Great Britain’s exit badly,” said Gabriel.
- Bloomberg
