- Joined
- Sep 14, 2012
- Messages
- 10,032
- Reaction score
- 4,966
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
Trans-Atlantic trade talks not overshadowed by NSA scandal | World | DW.DE | 13.07.2013
Read it all in the link. I just put in snips from the article which I found to be most interesting.
I will begin by saying that I dislike the EU as a bureaucratic, internal political system. It has powers that can endanger national sovereignty and that is a problem.
However. The EU as a united diplomatic front for making deals with foreign nations is a desirable thing. So I would very much like to see this deal pass through. Ofc, not just "pass through" regardless what it is. I like the idea. Let's see what they come up with by the end of 2014. Once we see what the terms are, we can discuss if it's a good idea or a bad idea.
For a look at the downsides of this, or rather, possible concerns:
http://www.dw.de/opinion-not-everyone-wins-with-eu-us-free-trade/a-16892973
As talks on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership began this week in Washington, a second topic loomed large: US intelligence programs. Germany wanted to make sure the issue didn't fade into the background.
As EU and US delegations met in Washington for the first week-long round of negotiations on a proposed shared trade area, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich was just a few hundred meters away in the White House for talks about controversial US surveillance programs.
"Apparently the topic of the surveillance programs did not play a big role. The delegations got into the matters at hand relatively quickly," the economist said. He believes that both delegations have developed a degree of basic trust in one another that will ease the upcoming negotiations.
Surveillance and data trade
How to handle private data is, however, one of the most difficult and complex topics to work through in negotiations. On this point, the two continents have widely divergent policies. Unlike in the US, in Europe consumers must give explicit permission for their data to be used in additional contexts.
Even beyond the current debate about the US National Security Agency's intelligence gathering, a number of political observers and business leaders distrust the idea behind TTIP. That's true on both sides of the Atlantic.
Much has been said about the benefits of a shared economic and trade zone between the two continents. And that is true in Washington, as well, where the talk among both delegates and many industry representatives is of millions of new jobs, a strong boost to the economy as well as greater efficiency.
Read it all in the link. I just put in snips from the article which I found to be most interesting.
I will begin by saying that I dislike the EU as a bureaucratic, internal political system. It has powers that can endanger national sovereignty and that is a problem.
However. The EU as a united diplomatic front for making deals with foreign nations is a desirable thing. So I would very much like to see this deal pass through. Ofc, not just "pass through" regardless what it is. I like the idea. Let's see what they come up with by the end of 2014. Once we see what the terms are, we can discuss if it's a good idea or a bad idea.
For a look at the downsides of this, or rather, possible concerns:
http://www.dw.de/opinion-not-everyone-wins-with-eu-us-free-trade/a-16892973