Where is truth

INTERNATIONAL TRADE: Free Trade Agreement: resumption of negotiations between Europeans and Americans

 

The major project of any large area of ​​free trade between the United States and the Union européennne was back on the table, Monday, 11 November in Brussels. With a month late, negotiators from both regions have resumed discussions on the framework of such an agreement.

Negotiations would, indeed, have resumed at the beginning of October, but the date was postponed due to the partial closure of the U.S. government, following the budget lock also Atlantic.

Discussions will be held until Friday, and will focus on topics as diverse as services, investment, energy and raw materials, as well as regulatory issues. The current step is essentially to "try to identify areas where discussions can move forward," told AFP an EU source.

But the exact content of the negotiations remains unclear to the general public. States have, in fact, failed to reach an agreement to make the public debate.

Shadow Snowden

In addition to defending the commercial pre-square of each country [as the French cultural exception], the Snowden case has also poisoned the atmosphere at the table . Since the beginning of discussions in June, the revelations from the documents provided by former CIA consultant have come to light practices digital espionage United States.

U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, tried to say that commercial negotiation "is really a separate issue," and "should not be confused with the questions legitimate, which may arise concerning the activities of the NSA. " 

But European countries, which have been the target of U.S. intelligence to the highest levels of government, believe that these practices are "the question of trust, which will be discussed during the negotiations, "said the AFP, a European source close to the negotiations.

In this context, the Europeans do not want to compromise on the standards of protection of personal data, even if they are willing to talk about information transfer. "This is a red line," said Will we in Brussels.

With AFP