Asked if Theresa May shares Mr Hollande’s assessment on the prospects for TTIP negotiations dragging on beyond the end of the year, the spokesman said: “I wouldn’t be drawn on whether TTIP will be concluded by the end of this year or the end of next year”.
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It would be impossible to reach agreement before the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, Mr Hollande noted.
Accusing the USA side of offering “just crumbs”, Mr Fekl said France would ask the European Commission to halt the talks at a trade ministers meeting in Slovakia next month.
“The negotiations are bogged down”. Positions have not been respected, the imbalance is obvious.
“It’s better to let everyone know that France will not be able to approve an accord that still lacks essential elements necessary to guarantee a positive outcome”.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor, had said Sunday that “in my opinion, the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it”. “They come here to create wealth but they never share the benefits with the countries where it is created”.
French President Francois Hollande warned Tuesday that “contradictory interventions” by Turkish and Russian forces in Syria could spark an escalation of the conflict.
“It is absolutely urgent to stop the fighting”.
More than 300,000 lives have been lost in the “terrifying tragedy” of Syria, and a “large scale humanitarian catastrophe is now underway in Aleppo”, he added.
“Today it is Turkey that has chose to deploy its troops on Syrian territory to defend itself against ISIS … but also to carry out action against the Kurds, who in turn are fighting ISIS with support from the coalition”, he added.
Hollande said Russia, Assad’s main backer, could not ignore the use of such weapons and had to support the resolution, which could then lead to a resumption of peace talks.
“Syria has been living a bad tragedy for the past five years”, Hollande said, according to AFP.
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As part of those efforts, Paris wants a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government and Daesh.
