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Ambassador of the European Union to India Daniele Smadja said on Thursday that the negotiations on the India-E.U. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) were “entering the endgame stage.”
Ms. Smadja, who was here to inaugurate the regional centre of the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), referred to the talks as being at a “sensitive stage.”
She declined to discuss the details of the negotiations. “Negotiations are not an open book,” she said. “Both sides have to take important decisions and strike a fine balance on what is realistically possible.”
Asked whether the talks faced a setback because of the recent allegations of lack of transparency in the negotiations, Ms. Smajda told The Hindu, “Both before and during the negotiations, we have maintained transparency.”
On February 15, the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a citizen advocacy group, had filed a petition before the EU General Court in Brussels accusing the EU executive of “discriminating in favour of corporate lobby groups and of violating the EU's transparency rules” while negotiating the FTA with India.
The CEO alleged that the European Commission had provided “big businesses privileged access to its trade policy-making process by sharing information that is withheld from the public.” It said that while “business lobbies” in Europe were able to access “full versions” of documents pertaining to the negotiations, civil society groups were only given “censored versions” of the same documents.
The CEO alleged that the EU trade policy was being shaped to suit big businesses, while disregarding the interests of small enterprises, trade unions and NGOs.
The advocacy group alleged that EU trade representatives and corporate lobbyists had adopted “joint strategies” in the EU's Market Access Advisory Committee (MAAC), aiming to target market access issues in India pertaining to services, cars, tyres, textiles, food safety and animal health measures.
Among the Indian measures “targeted” were those pertaining to the import of poultry products from bird flu-hit countries. The CEO, which has posted documents pertaining to its lawsuit on its website, also claimed that the EU had also “challenged” the Indian government's insistence on certification of tyres imported from the European Union.
Ms. Smadja, who was here to inaugurate the regional centre of the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), referred to the talks as being at a “sensitive stage.”
She declined to discuss the details of the negotiations. “Negotiations are not an open book,” she said. “Both sides have to take important decisions and strike a fine balance on what is realistically possible.”
Asked whether the talks faced a setback because of the recent allegations of lack of transparency in the negotiations, Ms. Smajda told The Hindu, “Both before and during the negotiations, we have maintained transparency.”
On February 15, the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a citizen advocacy group, had filed a petition before the EU General Court in Brussels accusing the EU executive of “discriminating in favour of corporate lobby groups and of violating the EU's transparency rules” while negotiating the FTA with India.
The CEO alleged that the European Commission had provided “big businesses privileged access to its trade policy-making process by sharing information that is withheld from the public.” It said that while “business lobbies” in Europe were able to access “full versions” of documents pertaining to the negotiations, civil society groups were only given “censored versions” of the same documents.
The CEO alleged that the EU trade policy was being shaped to suit big businesses, while disregarding the interests of small enterprises, trade unions and NGOs.
The advocacy group alleged that EU trade representatives and corporate lobbyists had adopted “joint strategies” in the EU's Market Access Advisory Committee (MAAC), aiming to target market access issues in India pertaining to services, cars, tyres, textiles, food safety and animal health measures.
Among the Indian measures “targeted” were those pertaining to the import of poultry products from bird flu-hit countries. The CEO, which has posted documents pertaining to its lawsuit on its website, also claimed that the EU had also “challenged” the Indian government's insistence on certification of tyres imported from the European Union.