Potential Impacts of Transatlantic Trade Negotiations on the EU Environmental Policy

Abstract

The current EU — US negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) may result in a comprehensive agreement which will be able to shape not only the traditional trade agenda but will cover a set of non-trade matters as well. Specifically, the environmental impacts as a matter of public concern are at the centre of attention of both the academia and the civil society. The proposed paper intends to analyse two aspects of the likely implications which could be triggered by the future transatlantic agreement. First, the policy level of the analysis is focusing on the question of how the contracting parties will integrate the environmental concerns into the agreement and how these concerns could be reconciled with the standard trade concerns and principles. Second, the TTIP could also have a direct impact on the environmental regulation; for this reason, the paper will also focus on the regulatory level. The paper concludes that a carefully planned agreement will not constrain the policy leeway of the EU in the field of the environmental protection, however, the EU negotiators have to pay very close attention to choosing the right models, methods and formulations in the future text of the agreement.

Keywords: EU external trade policy, EU—US relations, TTIP, EU environmental policy