The vote to endorse the European Commission proceeding with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was postponed in the European Parliament this week. This is a setback for the pro-agreement lobby as though Parliament support isn’t vital at this state to allow discussions proceed, it would be desirable.

Parliamentary approval will be necessary before any final treaty is adopted, so ultimately Parliament has a veto.

The “vote not to vote” in the Parliament is effectively a rejection of the fragile compromise agreement that was reached in the International Trade Committee the week previously, achieved on the back of a multitude of amendments and recommendations from various other committees of the European Parliament. A flood of amendments in excess of 200, were tabled and this persuaded the Parliament president Martin Schulz to send the matter back to the International Trade Committee for further consideration.

Division

Political division in the Socialist and Democrat groupings in the Parliament are the main reason why the Parliament didn’t take a position this week. This reflects the divergence of opinion on the issue across Europe, not only in the Parliament. The more conservative leaning governments, such as in Ireland and the UK, are very much pro-agreement and this mood is reflected among the European Conservatives and Reformists grouping in the Parliament.

While in Ireland the main concern around TTIP centres on the beef industry and a subsequent trading position with the US, the main driver of concern in Europe now centres on the “Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism” (ISDS), a private arbitration system standard in many trade deals. This bypasses national courts as the final arbitration on disputes and an example that is often cited is that Ireland’s vote in its national parliament to ban cigarette branding may not stand under TTIP.

While this week has been a setback for progression on TTIP, such is the political drive to have an agreement that it is unlikely to derail the process in the long term. A further round of discussions, the tenth in all, will take place in Brussels in July and a strong political push is expected again in the autumn.

When agreement is reached, Parliamentarians will come under intense pressure to approve and, after this week, Parliament has put the marker down that it cannot be taken for granted.