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The great TTIP debate that never was

The postponement of last week’s debate denied MEPs the chance to lay out their red lines on the controversial US-EU trade deal.

By Nick Dearden
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Commissioner Malmström, an unelected official with the European Parliament who is overseeing the TTIP negotiations.
Commissioner Malmström, an unelected official with the European Parliament who is overseeing the TTIP negotiations.

Commissioner Malmström, who is overseeing the TTIP negotiations. Flickr/European Parliament. Some rights reserved.

Is TTIP now on the ropes? The US-EU trade deal is being dealt weekly setbacks at the moment, culminating in angry scenes in the European parliament this morning.

On one side of the Atlantic, Obama seems to be losing his fight to get so-called "fast track" authority through Congress. Without it, TTIP’s progress slows to a snail’s pace. Meanwhile in Strasbourg, the European parliament was told it couldn’t vote on TTIP, after the pro-TTIP leadership feared it had lost control of the debate and risked being defeated on a crucial vote.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0