By D. Karampelas
Today, April 7, the ECOFIN had its first meeting. The meeting was mainly an intro for the days to follow, as the Ministers were given the chance to express their formal positions on the matters to be discussed.
The Ministers started off with their initial statements and a number of political positions was observed. Ireland, Cyprus and Finland were generally positive towards CETA, while the Netherlands, Slovenia and Romania remained critical on the matter. They believe that, despite their generally positive stance, it should be recognized that the concept of CETA and TTIP have some faulty points. Sweden and Spain were concerned about the issues that BREXIT will present.
After the initial statements, an open debate was launched. Slovakia, France and Germany expressed their deepest concerns about supporting small and medium enterprises to grow, while Greece mentioned the need to “put the citizens first”. Ireland also made a comment on the need to export more. In the final part of today’s meeting, an unmoderated caucus was entertained. Greece found reasonable the Wallonia ratification of CETA case, while France and Belgium urged the need to revise the ISDS clause of CETA and TTIP.
This concluded the meeting and we are now looking forward to the next session, where the main discussion will start.
