The European Union’s executive said on Monday it had a unanimous mandate from the bloc’s 28 members to finalise negotiations on a free trade deal with the United States, a day after Germany’s economy minister said the talks had “de facto failed”.
Sigmar Gabriel of Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, said on Sunday that negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) had failed because Europe rejected some U.S. demands.
Asked to comment on Gabriel’s remarks, a European Commission spokesman said “the ball is still rolling” on TTIP.
“Although trade talks take time, the ball is rolling right now and the Commission is making steady progress in the ongoing TTIP negotiations,” Margaritis Schinas told a news conference.
“Talks are now indeed entering crucial stage as we have proposals for almost all chapters on the table and a good sense of the outline of the future agreement.” In Berlin, Germany’s leading industry associations were critical of Gabriel’s remarks and urged the German government to show greater commitment to free trade deals.
The head of industry association BDI, Ulrich Grillo, said it was “astonishing” that Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor and head of the co-governing Social Democrats, had declared the TTIP talks a failure when negotiations were still going on.
