The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Implications for European Economic and Political Cohesion

Despite its significance, there has been relatively little work done on the origins and potential impact of TTIP by scholars within the field of European Union studies.  Most research has been conducted by think tanks and civil society groups.  Many of the former have provided theoretical and empirical support for the TTIP in close cooperation with the European Commission and corporate lobbies. European big business, operating through a variety of transnational corporate lobbies, has spearheaded the effort to conclude a TTIP and the process of elite political mobilization has generally reprised the experience of the SEA and EMU. By contrast, NGOs and trade unions have challenged key assumptions of corporate- and Commission-sponsored studies of the impact of TTIP. 

    This paper sees TTIP as the next logical step in a process of the neoliberal project of the EU that started with the SEA and EMU and as an expression of the EU’s attempt to resolve the problem of stagnation through competitiveness patterned on the model of German export mercantilism.  Given the experience of SEA and EMU in generating not only integrative but also disintegrative processes, it explores the potential impact of TTIP on European cohesion:  Are the interests of German (export mercantilism) towards further transatlantic economic integration consistent with those of the peripheral states of the EU?  Will greater transatlantic liberalization promote EU cohesion, or is it likely to accelerate processes of uneven development?  Are national economic interests and conflicts playing a role in the formation of EU policies towards TTIP?