| dc.description.abstract | This contribution discusses the TTIP negotiations and their consequences for the EU. The degree of attention - academic, political and from the public - has been extraordinary for an agreement which is still in process of negotiation, and that in itself tells us something. The TTIP, and the TTIP negotiations, are indeed significant. In fact, the negotiations themselves have had important consequences, irrespective of whether TTIP is ever finally concluded. If it is concluded, TTIP will be a highly significant agreement for the EU and the future of its trade policy and perhaps also for the future of multilateral trade (the WTO). If the TTIP fails, that failure and the reasons for it – whether a failure to reach a sufficiently substantive agreement, or a failure to ratify by the European Parliament, or by one or more Member States, or by the US Congress, will also have important consequences for the future of bilateral trade agreements. The TTIP negotiations both demonstrate and are themselves contributing to the changing landscape of EU trade policy. I should like to mention four aspects of this: first putting TTIP into the context of the EU’s trade policy more broadly; second assessing the projected scope of TTIP in terms of its degree of innovation and its sensitivities; third assessing the TTIP in terms of the balance of competence between the EU and its Member States; and fourth looking at innovations in the negotiation process and the roles played by the European Parliament, the Ombudsman and civil society. | en |