European Court of Auditors criticises the Directorate General for Trade During the meeting of the Committee on International Trade, the European Court of Auditors criticised the economic model used by the Commission for impact assessment analyses. It was as well used forfree-trade agreement with the US, the Transatlantic Trade and…

INTA Flash: News from the Trade Committee The European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) has now met for substantive discussions for the first time during this parliamentary term. The Green members are Ska and Yannick Jadot from France, as well as substitute members Klaus Buchner of the ÖDP and…

INTA Blitzlicht: Neues aus dem Handelsausschuss Der Handelsausschuss des Europäischen Parlaments (INTA) hat sich nun zum ersten Mal in dieser Legislatur für eine inhaltliche Auseinandersetzung getroffen. Die Grünen Mitglieder sind Ska und Yannick Jadot aus Frankreich, sowie als stellvertretende Mitglieder Klaus Buchner von der ÖDP und José Bové aus Frankreich.…

Public consultation on ISDS in TTIP started – participate and show rejection of ISDS As previously announced the Commission has launched its consultation on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the trade agreement with the United States (TTIP). We are disappointed that there is no question about whether ISDS should be…

TTIP website of the Greens/EFA group online The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament has set up a new web site on TTIP. There you can find campaign videos, up-to-date information and much useful background material. http://ttip2014.eu/   Two LSE studies about ISDS There are two new studies of the…

Director-General of the WTO Azevedo in the committee meeting In the trade committee (INTA) meeting the Director General of the World Trade Organisation Azevedo reported on the results of the Ministerial Conference in Bali. In his speech he presented the Bali package as a great success. Azevedo stated that the…

The Free Trade Agreement with the USA (TTIP)  After the public pressure of the last months, the Commission has relented at least partly on the highly dangerous Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. There will be a three month open consultation starting in March on the basis of a preliminary draft of the…

Parliament Resolution on the General System of Preferences (GSP) In January 2014, the new GSP-regulation will become operative. The GSP allows preferred access for the products of developing countries to the EU-Market. Within the scope of the new competences through the Lisbon Treaty the Parliament has now the opportunity to…

Hearing on social and environmental standards in trade agreements In a hearing in the trade committee the International Labor Organisation (ILO) presented a study which compared the effectiveness of social and environmental standards in trade agreements of the EU and the USA. The study concludes that the US’ system is…

TTIP The second negotiating round, which was postponed due to the US-American shutdown, is taking place this week (11 – 15 November). Market access (especially investment and services), tariffs as well as energy and raw materials are on the agenda. The third negotiating round will take place in December as…