France deals further blows to TTIP process

A huge transatlantic trade proposal between the United States and European Union faced another setback on Tuesday as the French president said he would call for a halt in the negotiations.

Speaking to French diplomats in Paris, Francois Hollande said it was not going to be possible to finalize an agreement on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership before US President Barack Obama finished his current term in office.

“The current discussions on the treaty between Europe and the United States will not lead to an agreement by the end of the year,” Hollande said.

Obama is due to finish his second mandate in January 2017.

The French head of state said the TTIP negotiations, which have already run into their third year, had bogged down and “should resume in the future on a different basis.”

The TTIP is massive multilateral trade deal that seeks to open up USEU markets, pumping billions of dollars into both economies.

Its classified negotiation process has drawn public and political criticism with several European officials casting doubt on the TTIP in recent days.

Just hours before the president’s comments, France’s trade minister Matthias Fekl wrote on his Twitter that France demanded an end to TTIP agreements, while Germany’s economy minister Sigmar Gabriel on Sunday said the deal had failed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel later contradicted her minister’s comments, stating that she thought an agreement was still possible.

Further criticism came from Dutch trade minister, Lilianne Ploumen who on Tuesday said in an interview with Dutch News that an agreement on TTIP would be impossible without US concessions.

Hollande said that he would ask for the backing of his European counterparts at the EU summit in Bratislava in September.