Malmström: TTIP should be ‘sustainable’

European Commission wants to ensure that the EU-U.S. trade deal boosts labor rights and environmental protection.

The European Commission launched a new effort Friday to counter criticism of a pending EU-U.S. trade deal, saying Brussels will push for the final agreement to include safeguards on labor rights and environmental protection.

Cecilia Malmström, the trade commissioner, said the EU had made the proposals for “sustainable development” measures as part of ongoing negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The pending free trade agreement has become a lightning rod for criticism across Europe from NGOs who argue that it will lead to a lessening of regulatory protections in the EU.

Seeking to counter the attacks, which have led to mass protests in several countries and eroded popular support for the deal, Malmström said the EU was putting forward “the most ambitious provisions ever put forward on these issues to any trading partner.”

The EU position includes commitments to promote labor rights, equality and non-discrimination, eliminate forced labor, abolish child labor and protect the environment.

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“Trade is not just about our economic interests, but also about values,” Malmström said, calling “irresponsible corporate behavior” a “global scourge.” She said that “working together with the U.S. would make us more efficient in fighting globally for more responsible practices.”

The proposal — which was first shown to U.S. negotiators in the latest round of talks on the deal in Miami from October 19-23 — lays out the EU position for one of the 24 planned chapters in TTIP. EU proposals on chapters for small and medium-sized enterprizes, regulatory cooperation, intellectual property rights and others have already been made public.

Malmström unveiled a new trade strategy in October, saying she is “committed to greater transparency” on the deal and will publish “key negotiating texts” from all planned EU trade agreements.

However, Friday’s proposal was slammed by Friends of the Earth Europe.

Paul De Clerck, trade campaigner at the NGO, called it “vaguely-worded” and “strikingly different from the very strong and enforceable rights that are given to investors” by a proposal on investment protection made by Malmström in September.

“It lacks any obligation to ratify multilateral agreements, creates loopholes for governments that want to continue environmentally harmful practices, and has overall no enforcement mechanism for any of the provisions mentioned in the text,” De Clerck said.

Malmström told reporters “we want of course strong enforcement language in the chapter, but we haven’t formulated that yet. We want to discuss first with our American partners on how to do it, but it’s clear a section on enforcement has to come.”

Negotiations on the chapter haven’t started yet, Malmström added, as the EU is still waiting for the U.S. to bring forward their proposal.

“We hope they will be ready soon,” she said.