Recommendations to the European Commission on TTIP talks, following the vote in International Trade Committee: extracts from the press conference by Bernd LANGE (S&amp;D, DE), rapporteur

Brussels

press conference

LANGE, Bernd (S&D, DE)

McCLARKIN, Emma (ECR, UK)

JADOT, Yannick (Greens/EFA, FR)

SCHAAKE, Marietje (ALDE, NL)

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T)

QUISTHOUDT-ROWOHL, Godelieve (EPP, DE)

Press conference on the recommendations to the European Commission on TTIP talks, following the vote in International Trade Committee, by Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), rapporteur: extracts

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LANGE (S&amp;D, DE), rapporteur, "If you look at the amendments as a whole, there is a whole spectrum regarding to arbitration bodies, and I think a lot of others have been involved as well so the the old private arbitration bodies are not longer part of the discussion, this is crystal clear, as I've said."

SOUNDBITE (German), Godelieve QUISTHOUDT-ROWOHL (EPP, DE), shadow rapporteur , "When its comes to investors protections, private or not, we find a formulation which does make it possible for us to build up on something. Now the EC does not have a definitive view, we are not alone, there are other partners on the other side, with whom we need to negotiate."

SOUNDBITE (English), Emma McCLARKIN (ECR, UK), shadow rapporteur , "We need to make sure that we have a very strong SME chapter that was contained within the vote that we had today. We need to make sure that this is not just about big businesses. This is deal for SMEs, and will be working to make sure that we are removing as many barriers as we can for small businesses to give them an opportunity to go into these markets and become part of global supply chains."

SOUNDBITE (English), Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE, NL), shadow rapporteur , "The reality is that nobody thinks that the current way in which ISDS is organized is suitable for today's day and age let alone for the future. We all want drastic reforms and the question is how are we going to make sure that we can find a way forward with the Americans. We're very much focused on what should be improved on the EU side and I think a lot of our demands for more transparency, for more impartiality of the arbitration judges, for involvement of stakeholders also from civil society and for an appeals mechanism have been taken on board in the discussion paper that the commissioner put forward."

SOUNDBITE (French), Yannick JADOT (Greens/EFA, FR), shadow rapporteur , "I regret that the compromise adopted really avoids all the substance from that coopertion system. Just look at the Guardian article on Ukraine, so we have to see that the Commission is lying when it says that those negotiations are not putting in question the protection of the health system, or the protection of the environment, our capacity to legislate which is the leitmotiv of the COM, and we see it along the examples that the COM is steping back on health protection and environment for the benefice of American lobbyists who don't want such reglementation in Europe."

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (GUE/NGL, DE), shadow rapporteur, "The non exclusion of ISDS in the current text of the resolution voted today in INTA is a big failure; because we are giving and we are transferring the question of the ISDS into an unknown future. What does it mean we are creating an Internatinal Court knowing that the American position is rejecting this idea from the very begining. Parliament knowing that we have to put a concrete exit position for the European Union inside in the further negotiation on that very important chapter, which is not negotiated currently, in the future. So what is our position?"

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Tiziana BEGHIN (EFDD, IT), shadow rapporteur , "Personaly I'm not very satisfied with the resolution on SME's, we have some disappointment with the COM. We do hope we can do more on this. Now as a businesswoman myself I have to say the last 22 years in my life I have been working in a small business and I can confirm that  bureaucracy is one the great obstacles business faces. Not just in the U.S. also in the EU and various Member States."