The European Parliament has shown strong support for China to join the ongoing Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) negotiations in a series of recommendations adopted by the assembly during a plenary session on Wednesday in Strasbourg, northeast France.
Voting on recommendations to be given to the European Commission, the parliament overwhelmingly backed China's inclusion in the TiSA talks, along with the goal of ensuring future "multilateralization" of the agreement.
"Today's vote is a breakthrough," said Viviane Reding, rapporteur from Luxembourg after the parliament backed her resolution by 532 votes to 131, with 36 abstentions. "I am proud to have gathered extensive support across the political spectrum to change the orientation of the EU trade policy, in the interest of EU companies and consumers alike."
The TiSA talks currently include 23 parties from members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the EU, which altogether represent nearly 70 percent of the international services market. It aims at the liberalization of international trade in a variety of areas, such as banking, telecom and healthcare.
China, as the EU's second largest trading partner, has not yet been included in the TiSA negotiations, despite having officially submitted a request in September 2013. According to the European Commission, 13 rounds of negotiations have taken place as of July 2015. There is no established deadline for ending the negotiations.
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