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About the Europe Program
The Europe Program aims to enhance understanding of the challenges facing the European Union and the potential
implications for the transatlantic relationship. Analysis, research, and policy recommendations are designed to understand
the dichotomy of disintegration and deepening of the EU and to help improve the political, economic, financial, and social
stability of the EU and its member states. In 2015, the Europe Program focuses on integration and disintegration in the EU,
the deepening of the euro area, the changing role of Germany in Europe and the world, as well as challenges in the EUs
neighborhood.
About GMF
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) strengthens transatlantic cooperation on regional, national, and
global challenges and opportunities in the spirit of the Marshall Plan. GMF contributes research and analysis and convenes
leaders on transatlantic issues relevant to policymakers. GMF offers rising leaders opportunities to develop their skills and
networks through transatlantic exchange, and supports civil society in the Balkans and Black Sea regions by fostering democratic initiatives, rule of law, and regional cooperation. Founded in 1972 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization through
a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides
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On the cover: National Assembly of France. Freepenguin/Wikimedia
by Guillaume Xavier-Bender1
Guillaume Xavier-Bender is a transatlantic fellow in the Brussels office of The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Policy Challenges
and Recommendations
Policy Challenges
Policy Recommendations
A
While France seemed
to be a possible thorn
in the Commissions
ambitions at the start of
the negotiations, there
are reasons to believe
that it could actively
help the EU in delivering
on TTIP.
6
Council of the European Union, Press Release 10862/13,
PRESSE 250, PR CO 31, June 14, 2013, http://www.consilium.
europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/137486.
pdf.
7
The Community acquis is the body of common rights and
obligations that bind all the member states together within the
European Union. It is constantly evolving and comprises the
content, principles, and political objectives of the treaties; the
legislation adopted in application of the treaties and the case law
of the Court of Justice; the declarations and resolutions adopted
by the Union; measures relating to the common foreign and
security policy; measures relating to justice and home affairs;
and international agreements concluded by the Community and
those concluded by the member states between themselves in the
field of the Unions activities. Glossary of EU Legislation, http://
europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/community_acquis_
en.htm.
8
Barack Obama and Franois Hollande, Obama and Hollande:
France and the U.S. enjoy a renewed alliance, The Washington
Post, February 10, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-and-hollande-france-and-the-us-enjoy-a-renewedalliance/2014/02/09/039ffd34-91af-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_
story.html.
France positioned
itself early on as a if
not the guardian of
Community acquis and
high standards.
T
The government has yet
to find the appropriate
message and channel
to communicate publicly
on TTIP.
9
Conseil National du Numrique, Strengthening EUs negotiation strategy to make TTIP a sustainable blueprint for the digital
economy and society. Opinion of the French Digital Council,
April 2014, p. 3, http://www.cnnumerique.fr/wp-content/
uploads/2014/05/Version-web-ANGLAIS-19.05.pdf.
Lionel Fontagn, Julien Gourdon and Sbastien Jean, Transatlantic Trade: Whither Partnership, Which Economic Consequences?, CEPII, September 2013, p. 10, http://www.cepii.fr/
PDF_PUB/pb/2013/pb2013-01.pdf.
10
11
12
13
14
To many critics, it is
more about what TTIP
means, rather than
about what TTIP is.
domination over national interests. Generally proEU parties also voiced their concerns regarding
TTIP during the campaign. For instance, in one of
their campaign clips, the Greens (Europe Ecologie
les Verts), promised a Europe that will stop the
inacceptable project of transatlantic free trade.15
More spectacular expressions of this opposition
have included activists dressing up in chicken
suits and jumping into public swimming pools to
raise awareness regarding the alleged dangers of
chlorinated chicken.
To illustrate this point, during a TV debate between
party leaders, Jean-Luc Mlenchon, head of the
Front de Gauche, described the bottle of wine
that he had brought with him in the following
terms: This wine is possible because it contains a
particular condition for workers, social standards,
it contains environmental standards, it contains a
way of doing things, it contains a civilization. I am
attached to this delicate civilization. And tomorrow,
you will have chablis from Mississippi, champagne
from Oklahoma.16
In the period leading up to the elections, nationwide news outlets published special editions on the
negotiations, with often deliberately pronounced
views. 17 For example, the magazine Mariannes
reporting on How the Americans Will Eat Us
illustrates a straight-forward attack on a probusiness TTIP. As it turned out, there was very
little coverage of the negotiations themselves and
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1twob7_1er-clip-officielde-campagne-europe-ecologie_webcam.
15
16
17
The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Transatlantic Trends Topline Data 2014, September 10, 2014, p. 4,
question 1a, http://trends.gmfus.org/files/2012/09/Trends_2014_
ToplineData.pdf.
18
19
However harsh
the criticism of a
transatlantic deal might
be in the public debate,
French public opinion
toward the United States
remains largely positive.
20
21
22
23
24
https://www.collectifstoptafta.org.
25
MEDEF, Ngociations commerciales Union Europenne Etats-Unis : une grande chance saisir, June 10, 2014, http://
www.medef.com/medef-tv/actualites/detail/article/negociationscommerciales-union-europeenne-etats-unis-une-grandechance-a-saisir.html.
26
27
32
28
29
30
31
33
Council of the European Union, Directives for the negotiation on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
between the European Union and the United States of America,
11103/13, October 9, 2014, http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/
document/ST-11103-2013-DCL-1/en/pdf.
34
It is indeed in the
preservation of these
collective choices of
the acquis that French
officials may be able to
contribute to a balanced
agreement that would
be politically acceptable
first in France and then
throughout Europe.
35
36
37
10
41
42
38
Sparding, p. 12.
39
40
43
11
12
44
Dcret n 2014-479 du 14 mai 2014 relatif aux investissements trangers soumis autorisation pralable, May 14, 2014,
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORF
TEXT000028933611.
45
13
46
14
Moving Forward
47
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16
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