Czech businessmen are supporting the TTIP

The largest benefit of the treaty is the elimination of the non-tariff barriers, the Czech entrepreneurs said.

The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of Employers‘ and Entrepreneurs‘ Associations of the Czech Republic have published a joint statement supporting the approval of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) treaty.

The representatives of the most important Czech employers' and entrepreneurs' organizations have launched an appeal to the EU Parliament members to help to avoid delays during the negotiations of the treaty which should become a main tool to enhance the competitiveness of the European Union. The statement was presented in the discussion with the Czech EU Parliament members in the European House in Prague on Friday 15^th May.

In the course of the discussion, the representatives of the Czech business pointed out that the treaty should maintain the principles of reciprocity within the individual economy branches and that one branch should not be profiting at the expense of another one.

„We are supporting the negotiation of this ambitious treaty,“ the Confederation‘s president Jaroslav Hanák said. „I’m convinced that the positive impacts of the treaty outweigh the negative ones. The aim of the treaty is to strengthen the existing economic relations and define the rules that would bring legal certainty and predictability in economic and trade relations to the companies on both sides of the Atlantic.“

„Almost one third of the European exporters consider the USA its priority market,“ the Czech Chamber of Commerce’s president Vladimír Dlouhý stressed. „So, it is absolutely necessary to finish the TTIP treaty‘s preparation works to enhance the competitiveness of the European Union and the United States. As the largest benefit of the treaty, we see the elimination of the non-tariff barriers whose existence represents a larger obstacle to the mutual trade development and investments than the tariff ones.“

The Confederation of Employers‘ and Entrepreneurs‘ Associtations‘ president Jan Wiesner pointed out that the TTIP could open an important market to the European as well as to the Czech products. In his opinion, the agriculture and food industry deserve a more sensitive approach, nevertheless. One of the unresolved issues is the cheap American shale gas, Wiesner said. He expressed hope that, in implementing the American legal norms, the treaty will not infringe upon the EU member states’ sovereignty, especially at the company level.

Position of Czech entrepreneurs' and employers' organizations on the TTIP