MEP opposes trade talks oversight

Plans to have all EU and US legislation scrutinised by an unelected body as part of the EU-US trade agreement have been criticised by Irish MEP Paul Murphy and members of the EU’s own advisory group.

A letter signed by Trade Minister Richard Bruton and ministers from eight other EU countries published in the Financial Times earlier this week urged that the negotiations on the trade agreement, known as TTIP, should be as comprehensive as possible.

The talks, launched under the Irish EU presidency last June, are aimed at eliminating all trade barriers between the world’s two biggest trading blocks and resumed this week with a stocktaking meeting between the EU’s Karel De Gucht and the US Michael Froman who lead the negotiations.