In the face of only sluggish progress in finding support for the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment pact (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States, EU leaders in the run-up to the New Year have begun to hit harder in an effort to see the treaty ratified before the end of 2015.

The world's biggest trade deal, first broached in 2013, would create a transatlantic market of 800 million people and encompass almost half the world economy.

According to a draft of the final statement on EU talks this week in Brussels, made available to the news agency Reuters, the union's leaders will say both sides "should make all efforts to conclude negotiations on a mutually beneficial TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) by the end of 2015".

Opposition to TTIP has continued strong on both sides of the Atlantic. European activists, including environmental and anti-globalization campaigner oppose the pact as they fear US multinationals corporations will coerce EU governments into lowering food, labor and environmental standards or influence health care services.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who discussed the trade deal with his peers from Spain, Italy, Denmark and several other EU leaders before the Brussels meeting, said "nothing of the sort" was being considered in negotiations.

"We need to bust some of the myths that are being put around," Cameron is quoted as saying. "Britain's public health service would not be under threat from a deal. There are not the risks that some people are putting forward."

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called for the deal to go through. Merkel has warned that Europe risks losing out to Asia as the US finalizes an accord with Japan and Pacific nations.

European opposition to the treaty focuses in particular the so-called investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, under which US-based companies could challenge EU laws on the grounds that these were restricting free commerce.