TTIP wins key panel vote

Parliament’s trade committee backs resolution in support of the EU-US trade agreement, including a deal on the controversial investor state dispute settlement.

The Parliament’s trade committee passed a resolution backing the EU-US free trade agreement on Thursday, including a deal on the controversial investor state dispute settlement, after the two main political groups forged a compromise.

The panel took up dozens of amendments,  but all eyes were on one vote: a compromise on the investor court struck late Wednesday between the European People’s Party and the Socialists & Democrats.

The panel voted, 29-10, for the amendment, which settles to use the ISDS reform proposal recently pitched by Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström as a basis for “a permanent solution for resolving disputes between investors and states … where potential cases are treated in a transparent manner by publicly appointed, independent professional judges in public hearings and which includes an appellate mechanism,” ensuring “a consistency of judicial decisions [and respecting] the jurisdiction of courts of the EU and of the Member States.”

The measure is only advice to the European Commission — the Parliament itself only observes the negotiations — but Thursday’s vote could boost TTIP over the longer term. The trade agreement will need, once it is finally negotiated, to pass the Parliament. The Commission therefore needs the Parliament on its side.

In recent months, the Commission has had to change its its position on the investor court under pressure from the Parliament.

To reach the agreement, the S&D faction gave up their original rejection of the ISDS mechanism. In return, the EPP accepted language submitted by the Socialists, stating that the Parliament takes “into account the EU’s and the US’ developed legal systems … to provide effective legal protection based on the principle of democratic legitimacy, efficiently and in a cost-effective manner.”

Greens and left-wing MEPs blasted the outcome. They had proposed an amendment rejecting ISDS in any form, which became obsolete once the compromise passed with a majority.

“I deeply regret that the Social-Democrat group has re-examined its position to align itself with the EPP,” said Yannick Jadot, MEP from the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, one of the fiercest ISDS critics.

Malmström’s idea, he said, “is a smokescreen which seems to have paid off.”

Socialist MEP Bernd Lang, chairman of the panel, acknowledged that his party didn’t get all he wanted. “But it is important now that the resolution goes to plenary.”

The compromise also includes a weakened call for the creation of an international trade court to hear investment dispute cases. The final text says “in the medium term, a public International Investment Court could be the most appropriate means to address investment disputes.”

The S&D group had previously demanded that such a court “is the most appropriate means,” which was now mitigated to “could be”.

Lange had previously stated that ISDS would be “not necessary,” but said he was now satisfied with the compromise, admitting that it was “far away from the original text” handed in by his group.

The final text voted on by the committee will now go the parliamentary assembly, where all 751 MEPs will vote on the resolution during the next parliamentary session in Strasbourg on June 9.

TTIP, if agreed, would affect more than 800 million people in Europe and the United States and about two-thirds of the world’s richest countries. The goal is to spur a transatlantic market by making exports, imports and investments easier, while jump-starting growth.

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