While the European Union supports TAFTA in general, a French parliamentarian collective tries to raise public awareness on the grey zones of the treaty.

TAFTA stands for the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement and is negotiated between the EU and the US. As the name suggests, it is about opening markets and reducing non-tariff barriers especially the regulatory ones (such as food safety, environmental legislation, or even, banking regulation). The European Council backs the pursuance of the negotiations because an increase in exports would be beneficial in terms of employment.

However, even if the agreement is supposed to be concluded in 2016, it remains a substantial transparency problem in this treaty: there is a lack of clarity in the vocabulary used. Those grey zones reinforce the apprehension about the negative impacts on social protection.

The treaty should not threaten the high standards established by the EU nor go against the legislation of the member states. This treaty may have a great impact on the citizens’ lives. They legitimately have a say in the process!

And the parliamentarians are not going to surrender; the collective is ready to defend the French environmental and social standards, tooth and nail.