News Analysis: EP big guns rally in favor of new TTIP proposals

Major political groups in the European Parliament (EP) called Tuesday for a more common sense approach to Wednesday's vote on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The proposed trade pact between the European Union (EU) and the United States could boost the EU economy by around 120 billion euros (or 0.5 percent of gross domestic product) and that of the U.S. by 95 billion euros (or 0.4 percent of GDP), according to a 2013 report commissioned by the European Commission (EC).

This would be a permanent increase in the amount of wealth that the European and American economies can produce every year, the report argued.

However, the pact has been mired in controversy since negotiations started. A vote on the EP's recommendations to the EC negotiating team was due to be held in June but was postponed until this month after too many amendments were tabled.

The major sticking point between the Parliament's two largest groups, the center-right European People's Party (EPP) and center-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D), has been the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This would give U.S. companies investing in Europe the power to bypass European courts and directly challenge governments at international tribunals, if they found that laws in areas such as public health, or environmental or social protection, infringed their right to do business. EU companies would have the same right in the U.S.

But in the past few weeks, S&D MEP (member of EP) Bernd Lange brokered an agreement which would oblige the EC to exclude ISDS from the trade agreement and replace it with "a public, democratic and transparent mechanism".

So with the possibility of securing a vote in favor of the Parliament's recommendations to the EC negotiators more likely, leaders of the major EP groups spent Tuesday emphasizing the positive aspects of TTIP with a view to winning a significant majority of votes in favor.

"The clarification (on ISDS) is new," said Lange. "Last time it was clear that ISDS is dead, that private arbitration is an instrument of the past and it is not foreseen by the Parliament anymore as an alternative in trade agreements. However, last month it was not worded clearly enough. Now it is clear that ISDS has to be replaced by a public court. We need publicly appointed judges, a clear European mechanism, and a public code for the court. So it is a completely new system."

"Globalization needs rules and it is our duty as politicians to deliver," he added. "This is a unique opportunity for the EU to harness globalisation by introducing standards in international trade. Otherwise the world will move ahead without us having a say. We should not miss it."

During the EP debate Tuesday the EPP's shadow rapporteur, Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl, commented: "Globalisation is happening. We in the EPP Group want to shape it instead of letting it pass us by. TTIP will reinvigorate the transatlantic partnership providing the opportunity for Europe to play a leading role in a globalised world."

"We call on the opponents of TTIP who are unsettling citizens and are organizing questionable campaigns: please stop spreading fear, half-truths and lies and stand up for a fair debate based on facts instead," added Daniel Caspary, the group's spokesman on the EP's International Trade Committee.

At a press conference on Tuesday EPP leader Manfred Weber responded to a question on ISDS posed by Xinhua saying the compromise on ISDS could send a signal to the EU's other trading partners that high and robust standards can be built into future trade deals. "It is clear that (TTIP) can be a model for defining new global standards."

Also at a press conference, Syed Kamall, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), said the EP should not get hung up on ISDS, but needed to see the wider picture. He said TTIP would ultimately be of overall benefit to Europeans, including consumers and smaller companies.

"We need to strike a deal where we can address the genuine concerns of EU citizens," he said. However, this was not the same as some campaigns instigated by some TTIP opponents, who he said "frankly hate trade." Enditem