French
minister calls for halt to TTIP talks
There
is ‘no more political support’ in France for EU-US trade pact,
foreign trade secretary says.
By
Joshua Posaner
8/30/16, 9:48 AM CET
France wants to stop
negotiations on a transatlantic trade pact between the EU and the
U.S., the country’s secretary of state for foreign trade said
Tuesday.
Matthias Fekl said
“there is no more political support in France for these
negotiations,” adding that “France calls for an end to these
negotiations,” according to AFP.
Fekl also echoed
that sentiment on social media, tweeting: “France demands the
cessation of negotiations” for the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP).
A motion to halt the
talks will be proposed at a meeting of EU foreign trade ministers in
Bratislava next month.
Fekl said on RMC
radio that TTIP talks are weighted in favor of the U.S.
“We need a clear
and definitive halt to these negotiations in order to restart on a
good foundation,” Fekl said.
If signed, TTIP
would create the world’s largest free trade area, but opposition to
the pact has grown over recent months, notably in France and Germany.
Germany’s Economy
Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday in an interview with German
public broadcaster ZDF that TTIP talks had failed despite 14 rounds
of talks between EU and U.S. negotiators.
Activists hold
banners during a protest against the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership in front of the EU Commission in July, 2016
Since Thilo Bode
entered the fray in 2014, support for TTIP in Germany has plummeted
from 55 percent to 17 percent
“Negotiations with
the United States have de facto failed, because we, as Europeans,
must not bow to American demands,” Gabriel said.
The Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative said Monday that TTIP talks were making
“steady progress.” An EU spokesperson also said Monday that talks
would continue.
This article has
been corrected to clarify that Sigmar Gabriel spoke about TTIP in an
interview on Sunday.
Authors:
Joshua Posaner
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