France wants guarantees on potential EU-US deal

Officials in the French government have warned that a free trade deal between the European Union and the United States would utterly fail in the absence of some robust guarantees.

"I want to be clear: it will not succeed if it does not guarantee that the (quality) standards we have in France for our citizens' health and environment will be maintained," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Tuesday.

Other officials echoed the concerns, with France's minister of state for foreign trade, Matthias Fekl, saying chances are dim for an agreement in the ongoing round of talks between US and European negotiators on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

“No, I don't think so. The likelihood, or risk, of reaching any accord is fading,” said Fekl, who is France's envoy to the talks which began on Monday in New York and will last for a week. He said Europe had no desire to “sign up to anything at any price.”

TTIP, a broad mechanism for scrapping tariff barriers to trade and investment between the US and 28 members of the EU, has been a major source of concern for many European citizens. Tens of thousands demonstrated earlier this week in Germany against the proposed pact, saying it could seriously harm the existing ecological and labor market standards.

French Finance Minister Emmanuel Macron said during a visit to Germany on Tuesday that his country has to be sure the TTIP is “complete, ambitious and which does not disown any of our interests" but is drawn up "fully transparently,” adding that “there is no urgency” to sign the deal.

The public suspicion over the deal has been doubled given the secrecy surrounding the talks as many both in Europe and in the US urge more details of the TTIP to emerge. A referendum planned for June in Britain on whether or not the country would remain in the EU threatens the prospects of the trade pact as London plays a major role in the continental body’s financial structure.

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