EU officials say public reservations over TTIP being taken "seriously"

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Austrian Minister of Economy Reinhold Mitterlehner addressed concerns over TTIP, or the free trade pact between the European Union and the United States, following a meeting in Vienna Tuesday.

"We both take the reservations (over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP) among the population very seriously," Mitterlehner told the media after the meeting.

The two officials said solutions to concerns are being sought, such as a court that could oversee arbitration, and that these measures are also part of the negotiating process.

The negotiations are not taking place publicly, Juncker said, though added that he is surprised that after years of claims for documents relating to the negotiations to be made public, which they then were, "nobody is particularly interested."

He added the site containing the documents is "very seldom visited," but hoped that this would eventually change.

Mitterlehner said the target for completion of the TTIP negotiations is still by the end of the current year, ahead of the next presidential elections in the United States.

TTIP talks have begun in July 2013, although progress was much slower than originally anticipated. The ninth round of talks over the pact run from April 20 to 24 in New York.

In Europe, the treaty proponents claimed that the pact will significantly boost economic growth and create a great number of new jobs.

On the other hand, critics are convinced that the TTIP will undermine the existing protection of consumers and allow large-sized corporations to block regulations that they find disadvantageous. Endit