EP Committee Retables TTIP Vote

The European Parliament’s (EP) International Trade Committee has set the stage for a plenary vote on the EP’s draft recommendation for the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) by retabling proposed amendments.

EP president Martin Schulz shelved a planned Jun. 9 vote and referred the matter back to a parliamentary committee in an effort to deal with the more than 200 complaints against the legislation and proposed amendments.

The committee subsequently decided to hold two separate votes. In its Jun. 29 vote it retabled the amendments and in a second will retable requests for split or separate votes.

In the run-up to a new plenary vote, the Parliament’s political factions will seek to find a common ground on the divisive issues emerging from the TTIP talks – in particular whether the proposed treaty between the US and the EU will provide for the use of private arbitration to resolve disputes or whether these will be heard by open courts.

The next step is for the EP Conference of Presidents – the parliamentary president and the political group leaders – to decide when the Parliament should continue the debate and take a final on the TTIP and amendments.