EU negotiation agenda to continue despite Brexit; MERCOSUR and Indonesia at sight
Despite the uncertainties in TTIP negotiations, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said they would survive Brexit, and is pushing to conclude negotiations before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office in early 2017. Malmström recalled that the European Commission would continue to negotiate the TTIP and other trade and investment agreements on behalf of the United Kingdom as an EU member state until Brexit is formalized.
Among these are EU negotiations with MERCOSUR, which resumed on June 23, and with Indonesia, formally launched on July 18. Negotiating rounds with both partners are expected to take place sometime in the second semester. The 17th round of negotiations of a free trade agreement with Japan is scheduled for September 2016 in Brussels.
In launching negotiations with Indonesia, the Commission recalled the recently completed agreements with Singapore (2014) and Vietnam (2015), and indicated that agreements with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “will serve as building blocks toward a future EU–ASEAN agreement, which remains the EU’s ultimate objective.”