Some EU media continue to comment on the negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement (TTIP) between Europe and the United States. Elconfidencial.com reports that the European chief negotiator for the TTIP, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, believes that 2015 will be decisive for the negotiations and expects to close it during President Barack Obama’s term of office: “the negotiations are at an important time, our goal is to make the maximum progress possible in 2015 to try to conclude it during the Obama administration,” he said.

Austrian, Bulgarian and Dutch media clearly advocate for the TTIP, maintaining that Europe “urgently needs TTIP.” Director of the European Commission Representation in Catalonia, Ferrán Tarradellas, recalls on Catalunya Radio that TTIP aims at creating economic and job opportunities, which is “exactly what previous free-trade agreements signed by the EU so far have achieved.”

Nevertheless, in an opinion piece in Les Echos, European economists and intellectuals, members of the Cercle Bélem, write that “Europe as a whole will benefit from the TTIP. Unfortunately, it will not be the case in every EU member state, as when free-trade barriers are lifted, trade flows focus on the most efficient sectors and geographic areas. […] Yet, nothing has been thought over about supporting this transfer of wealth within Europe.”

In her commentary in Právo, journalist Jana Ridvanová also presents arguments against TTIP, suggesting that the agreement is the Trojan horse of the multinational businesses. ©europeanunion2015