EU-USA marriage?

Boosting European and US economic partnership "to overcome the crisis and support more jobs". In a joint statement released on February 13 United States President Barack Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced their decision to initiate procedures for a "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership" with special emphasis on trade, agricultural and industrial production, investments and services. The timeframe envisaged is a couple of years. And while glances focus on the states, the European Commission seeks new rules to improve internal market performance and EU consumer protection.Common perspectives. The momentous agreement on free trade was mentioned by President Obama in Washington in his state of the Union speech on February 12. After a few hours he was echoed in Brussels by José Manuel Barroso, who said: "A future deal will boost our economies and create new jobs". Now the Commission will present a negotiating mandate to Member States (probably within the first semester of the year); thus negotiations will focus on regulatory issues, tariffs, manufacturing industries, to improve circulation of food produce and capitals. Despite "inevitable obstacles" negotiations are bound to "form the largest free trade zone in the world, with two similar economies", already deeply interconnected. The EU-US agreement "could add 0.5% to the EU’s economic output" annually. It would help overcome "protectionist attempts" that linger on in certain productive sectors. Barroso recalls that "in the past" there have been "several attempts to launch this process of negotiations, but every time there were obstacles and resistance". However: "Both sides of the Atlantic addressed the crisis, and both need growth. We share difficulties in our public budget. Trade is the simplest way to boost economic growth, economic recovery, productive activity, investments, services, the job market… and it doesn’t cost a cent". It could be a "win-win" agreement, adds the Head of Executive with benefits for both parties. Complex negotiations. Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht attempted a temporal forecast regarding the Transatlantic Partnership: "Ideally, we’d like to complete this work in about two years from now", mid-way through 2014, so that it may become operative starting in 2015. "Business between us reaches 2 billion euros per day", the Belgian Commissioner said, adding that "tariff barriers equivalent to a cost burden between 10 and 20 per cent – weigh heavily on consumers. It is necessary to go beyond the current tariff system", keeping the tariffs only when considered beneficial for both economies. Unquestionably it is "a complex agreement" as it regards all productive sectors and the interests of various countries. Let it suffice to consider the differences in the automobile industry, aviation, agriculture, raw goods and intermediate goods. Internal market. "To increase the safety of consumer products circulating in the Single Market" and "strengthen market surveillance for all non-food products, including those imported from third countries": these are main tasks identified by the Commission in the proposals of February 13 regarding single market safety. The initiative "will strengthen consumer protection and create equal opportunities for enterprises – underlines the EU Commission. "Unsafe products should not reach consumers while a better identification and traceability will ensure immediate withdrawal from the market". The European Commission will present draft-negotiating directives to Council and Parliament, which if adopted within scheduled deadlines, will come into force in 2015. The directives are set to be integrated by a "multi-annual plan for market surveillance", consisting of "20 concrete actions to be achieved by 2015 to improve market surveillance in the current regulatory framework and until the entry into force of the future rules". Tonio Borg, Maltese, Commissioner for Consumer policy and Health, said: "Consumers expect that products on the European market are safe. Companies are expected to operate with equal conditions. Thus authorities must possess the appropriate tools to operate efficiently and effectively". The package of proposals adopted by the Commission, therefore, aims "to meet these expectations and we believe that consumers, businesses and national authorities will greatly benefit from clear and consistent regulations across the Single Market".