Working Breakfast: “Free Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the European Union (TTIP), with the focus on chances and risks for agriculture and trade”
SME Europe of the EPP and MEP Albert DESS invited to a working breakfast on Wednesday 19. of March to discuss the Free Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the European Union (TTIP), with the focus on chances and risks for agriculture and trade.
Mr. Klaus KEHREIN from the German permanent representation, Head of Division for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, gave an introduction to the topic. Firstly he wanted to mention that Germany, as an exporting economy is highly in favor of Free Trade, while he also wanted to highlight the risks. Firstly, he is concerned that the high level of consumer protection in Europe will not be the same after the agreement. His other concerns are for the quality of the goods. While the use of hormones is accepted in the USA, in Europe, for reasons of uncertainty for health, it is forbidden. Also the meat from cloned animals is not accepted in Europe, due to animal protection and ethical reasons. Last but not least he mentioned the use of chlorine to sanitize chickens. He thinks that chemicals should not make up missing hygiene. These topics should be addressed before we can enter an agreement.
Then keynote speaker Mr. Frank HOFFMEISTER, deputy chief of staff of the EU trade commissioner De Gucht, gave his view on the matter. He informed us that the Free Trade Agreement between the USA and EU is the biggest Trade Agreement of all times and that we should use the momentarily good atmosphere to work it out. The European council is unanimously for the agreement and even the US with its government lead by democrats, which are usually against trade agreements, is in favor of it. This gives us the chance to eliminate the “Trade peaks” in the US, which are higher tariffs for certain goods like milk, cheese and chocolate to protect the domestic producers. He said that the EU has to close ranks in the negotiations since we are not the only ones with concerns. The US is still concerned with topics like the BSE cases is Europe. Then he repels any accusations that the negotiations are not transparent. Lastly he wants to mention that the agriculture is very enthusiastic about helping to shape the agreement.
Then Mr. Udo HEMMERLING from the Deutscher Bauernverband (DBV), deputy general secretary, made an impulse statement. He said that Russia has been the biggest export market for German farmers so far. Taking into account the recent development, trade with Russia could get more difficult in the future. Hence, we need to look for new markets and the Free Trade Agreement with the US could open those new markets. The DBV is generally in favor of the agreement, but only if both sides can benefit equally. His concerns are with US-Imports of beef and pork to the EU. He expects new export opportunities with EU products such as cheese, other dairy products and beverages. He openly asked the commission to stay true to their demands in regard to hormone use in meat production. We should work on introducing the same standards in both economies, which is more or less just a question of lowering the difference in production costs. Another problem is that that the US does not recognize the geographical protected trademarks like Gouda, Parmigiano Reggiano or Champagne. Lastly he wanted to mention that “FREE Trade Agreement” is not yet the correct phrase, because we are still just working on “Trade Agreements”.
Dr. Thomas MEMMERT summed up the recent opinions and added specific new aspects. He underlined the diversity of the American agricultural market. There are a lot of chances to extend the European Trade Volume. He mentioned, that the American industry and agriculture is established and focused on mass production. It is too hard to position European mass products on the foreign market. He claimed that the common trade has to export specific and unique goods to find a trading gap. He proceeded with the known problem that the U.S. are not respecting the geo-regional descent seal. This seal guarantees the genuine origin of the product and it is also trademark protected by European laws. For the Americans the regional seal is just a method of the specific production (for example: Gouda, Parmigiano Reggiano or Champagne) European consumers are very sensitive concerning genetic engineered food or hormone induced products. The commission has to clarify that this kind of prepared food has to be labelled visibly – that the consumer is always informed about the way of production and the origin of it. It will be a success of the negotiation he said because the USA is sceptical about that. Furthermore he warned the audience and the representatives of the EU Commission not only to focus on the bilateral Trade agreements but also keep the multilateral (with the WTO) in mind.
The event was closed with a lively discussion.