MEP support falters for trade deal
European Parliament's second-largest bloc bickers over EU-US trade as vote looms.
An intra-party battle over a controversial provision of the EU-US trade agreement threatens to undo fragile support for the deal in the European Parliament.
With only a few days remaining before the Parliament’s June 10 vote on whether to approve the EU’s position on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), members of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (S&D), the second largest group in the assembly, are wrestling over their position.
Two separate S&D factions have failed to agree on how strongly to oppose a controversial provision that lets foreign investors sue national governments for financial compensation if a change in law affects their holdings.
If the S&D MEPs cannot settle on a position on the so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) proposal before next week’s plenary session, Parliament’s support for the whole trade deal could be threatened.
