As Socialists and Democrats we recognise the opportunities of the agreement. These include improved access to US markets for services and public procurement, recognition of technical standards, protection of EU geographical indications and the abolition of US trade restrictions (such as the ‘Buy American Act’ and the ‘Jones Act’). The EU and its industries and services have clear interests under TTIP. At the same time however, the S&D Group has made a number of crucial demands in these negotiations.

The extent to which these demands are met in the final text will be the deciding factor in whether or not our Group can give its consent to the agreement. Our demands focus on the following critical elements: maintaining EU standards; data protection; regulation of financial markets; defending the role of democratic legislative processes; protecting labour rights; dropping proposals for an investor-state dispute settlement; and transparency in negotiations.