The European Union and the United States: A Long Walk to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

Introduction: The paper argues that unless HRVP and EEAS particularly through its ‘VP hat’ and EU Delegation in Washington, DC gets more involved in TTIP negotiations, the negotiation process may in fact sideline the HRVP together with EEAS and hinder rather than encourage the comprehensive approach in EU’s foreign policy. Despite the fact that TTIP negotiations may lead to an increased clout of EU institutions at the expense of EU Member States at the international level, it may be the European Commission rather than the EEAS which has greater input in setting the direction of TTIP and transatlantic relations in general, particularly since it is the Commission rather than EEAS which is in charge of the nitty-gritty aspects of TTIP negotiations. For better illustrating this point, the paper compares and contrasts TTIP negotiations throughout the paper with another type of negotiations that the EU has been involved in for years, i.e. accession negotiations dealing with accepting new Member States