TTIP plenary vote postponed. The next steps

TTIP

The debate and vote on Parliament's recommendations on the ongoing Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were postponed because of the high number of amendments tabled. EP President Martin Schulz decided late on Tuesday, June 9th to send the 116 amendments tabled in plenary to the Parliament report on TTIP to the international trade committee for further deliberation. The following morning the debate scheduled on the same issue was also postponed for a later date by the plenary.

German S&D member Bernd Lange, chair of the international trade committee and responsible for drafting the Parliament's recommendations on the TTIP agreement, said after Tuesday's decision: "We will use the additional time we gained to work towards reaching a stable majority for the TTIP-resolution. The EP can only come forward with a strong message for the TTIP negotiators if our resolution is supported by a broad majority."

Parliament's International Trade Committee (INTA) will hold an extraordinary meeting on 29 June in Brussels to decide whether the 116 amendments tabled to Parliament's draft recommendations to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators should be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole. To enable the amendments and/or the requests for split or separate votes to be put to a plenary vote, at least five International Trade Committee MEPs would need to vote in favour of them.

Check the Housing Europe TTIP analysis regarding the potential impact of the agreement on our sector

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Economic Governance

Today’s economic governance rules for the euro area are not working as well as they should. This is because they are too complex, lack ownership and are not consistently enforced, say Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Tuesday, June 16. The text - drafted by Pervenche Berès (S&D, FR) and approved by 33 votes to 24 with 1 abstention- will become Parliament’s input to the 25 June European Council.

Among other things the report suggests that: “the Commission should pay more attention to specific national circumstances when deciding on country-specific recommendations. It should also keep a closer eye on spill over effects in other member states and better coordinate its recommendations with the excessive debt procedure.”

Rapporteur Pervenche Berès stated following the Committee vote that “I definitely believe that the European Parliament and the national parlements should become more involved in economic governance. When the next cycle starts, the European Parliament will be fully committed to coming up with an analysis of the situation in the eurozone, both in terms of diagnosing the problems and suggesting guidelines.”