Courtesy translation
EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
The Chair
Paris, 10 March 2015
Mr (Mrs) Chair
The National Assembly European Affairs Committee is organising, on Wednesday 17 June, in
connection with the Economic Affairs Committee and with the Foreign Affairs Committee, an
interparliamentary meeting on the European Union's trade policy and, in particular, on the ongoing
negotiations with the United States (TTIP), Canada (CETA) and at the WTO (Doha cycle).
I would like to invite you to participate in this meeting aimed at bringing together the Chairs,
or their representative, of the European Affairs Committees or International Trade Committees of
the twenty-eight Member States, as well as representatives of the European Parliament Committee
on International Trade.
The meeting, to take place on 17 June 2015 from 9:30 to 13:15 at the National Assembly
(salle Lamartine, 101 rue de l’Université 75007 Paris), will address the challenges of these trade
negotiations. These challenges directly concern national parliaments, due to their potential
consequences for the States and European citizens, as well as all the socio-economic partners. It
therefore appears important to me that the parliaments should be able to meet to debate on their
respective positions in response to the following two main questions:
-
Trade agreements: what risks and how to avoid them?
In this respect, the following points in
particular can be brought up: the collective preferences of Europeans as well as the issue of the
mechanism for settling trade disputes and the risk it forms as to the capacity of States to freely
define their public policy choices. This will be the subject of the first meeting from 9:30 to 11:15;
-
Trade agreements: an opportunity for whom and under which conditions?
The potential
economic benefits can be brought up
inter alia
and a discussion can be held on the European
Union's commitment to bilateral agreements rather than the use of multilateral agreements, as well
as on the coherence of these agreements with the other policies of the European Union, especially
development policy. This will be the subject of the second meeting from 11:30 to 13:15.
A lunch served from 13:30 will close our meeting.
The meetings will take place in French and English (simultaneous translation facilities will be
available for four other languages depending on the requests received).
Could you please confirm your presence, or that of your representative, before Wednesday 15
April by email to the secretariat of the European Affairs Committee:
secretariat-commission-
or by letter to the following address:
Secrétariat de la commission des Affaires européennes
Assemblée nationale
33 rue Saint Dominique
75007 Paris
France
Yours faithfully,
Danielle AUROI