Bulgarian Politicians Call for Utmost Transparency about EU-US Trade Agreement

Bulgarian politicians on Monday called for utmost transparency about the planned EU-US free trade agreement known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment 

Partnership (TTIP). The call was issued by MEP Georgi Pirinski and Deputy Prime Minister Ivailo Kalfin during a discussion on TTIP organized in Sofia by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Pirinski welcomed the declassification of the negotiating mandate for TTIP. He noted that the future agreement should include general measures to regulate financial services, despite the unwillingness of the US to enforce such measures. Pirinski said that left-wing politicians acknowledge the need to liberalize the economy, but this should be done not only to boost economic growth, but also to promote employment and increase incomes.

According to Kalfin, TTIP is expected to add 130 billion euros to the EU's annual GDP and 90 billion euros to that of the US. The problem is that when two economies are going to be integrated, they should be equally developed, because otherwise the gap between them will increase, he said. The national economies in the EU are at various levels of development and Bulgaria, for instance, will suffer from increased competition, Kalfin warned. Not many Bulgarian companies can be successful on the US market, but many US companies will want to do business in Bulgaria, he said.