TTIP negotiations must go on

The US is the EU’s largest trade and investment partner and we are in the middle of a complex bilateral negotiation. Both sides knew from the start that it would not be easy for the two leading world economies to agree on an ambitious and forward looking trade and investment agreement. But they also knew that the expected benefits would be worth the efforts.

Emma Marcegaglia, President of BusinessEurope, underlined:“TTIP is too important to fail. We are in the course of a hard negotiation and we need strong political commitment from the EU and the US to reach an agreement. Business on both sides is strongly engaged and we expect politicians to deliver. We need to boost growth and jobs in Europe and TTIP is one of the best means to achieve it”.

2016 is a decisive year for TTIP and both the EU and the US need to move forward despite any political constraints that might be shaping the debate at national level. Only in this way we will be able to achieve the desired sustainable growth that everyone wants in Europe.

Emma Marcegaglia added: “It took us five years to conclude CETA. We are negotiating TTIP for three years  and this is a more complex agreement. We need to give negotiators a reasonable time to deliver the high quality deal that everyone expects. So the negotiations must go on”.