President Hollande’s position in public polls ahead of next year’s presidential elections is weak and many people have wondered if this is just a stunt to gain political points.
“That’s exactly the point. Hollande’s rating is very low and TTIP is a great opportunity for him and the French government to get back on track before the presidential elections in 2017,” Nicolas Roux said.
When asked how important France’s opinion in this negotiating process really is and about the chances of bigger economies, like Germany and the United States, eventually making Paris sign the deal, Nicolas Roux said that “well, we have information that the government is actually willing to sacrifice French agriculture to get access to the US procurement market.”
If the TTIP deal does go through some typically French things could be made in the United States.
“Food safety rules in Europe are much higher than in the US and if the deal is signed this would weaken the safety standards now existing in Europe,” Nicolas noted.
“In Europe we have the so-called precautionary principle of strong safeguards regarding food safety issues. In the United States they do not have such a principle and what they are trying to do is to bring in their own pro-trade rules and get rid of the European precautionary principle.”
When asked if the French were ready to take to the streets over the issue, because they have traditionally been concerned about what goes into the food they eat, Nicolas Roux said that France has the biggest agricultural sector in Europe and the TTIP constituted an attack against this sector.
“When our farmers feel unhappy they will take to the streets to show that,” he noted.
Answering a question about how far the Friends of the Earth or any other such group could influence anybody where it comes to the TTIP agreement, Nicolas Roux said: “We are not alone. There are Greenpeace and many other organizations involved in this campaign. If we act together we’ll make a lot of noise and make things change.”
The TTIP deal is expected create the biggest trading zone in the world, opening up the EU and US markets to each other. However, the talks have been mired in controversy because of their secretive nature, disagreements over regulatory issues and the contentious Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism.
On May 2, Greenpeace leaked hundreds of pages of documents from the consolidated texts which show deep divisions between the EU and the US, with many critics saying the talks are at an impasse and are about to collapse.
