G7-SUMMIT/MERKEL NEWSER UPDATE Merkel says G7 wants progress on TTIP, committed to limiting global temperature rise

Record ID: 135793

  • Title: G7-SUMMIT/MERKEL NEWSER UPDATE Merkel says G7 wants progress on TTIP, committed to limiting global temperature rise
  • Date: 8th June 2015
  • Summary: KRUEN, GERMANY (JUNE 8, 2015) (REUTERS) MERKEL SPEAKING JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 23rd June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA88VNP50MQEK2AXUZQDUY3V5IO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday (June 8) that the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations wants to make good progress this year on a proposed free trade agreement between Europe and the United States.
    "We want to push forward the free trade agreement with the United States and make clear progress this year towards an agreement," she told a news conference at the end of the two-day G7 summit she was hosting in the Bavarian Alps.
    The Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a multibillion-dollar trade deal that proponents say would strengthen a transatlantic trade relationship already worth $3 billion a day by removing barriers to business and bolster the West's power to shape world trade.
    But there has been widespread opposition to the TTIP, especially in Germany, and it was one of the major points of contention for the thousands of protesters that descended on the Alpine resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen near the G7 summit venue over the weekend.
    Support among the German public for the TTIP has fallen sharply over the past year, with many worrying it will weaken food, environmental and auto safety standards and give U.S. firms too much power.
    One of the biggest sticking points for any deal is an investor protection clause wanted by the Americans that critics say would allow companies to bully governments.
    On climate change, one of the key topics on the agenda for the summit, Merkel said that the G7 nations were committed to a goal of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.
    "We are clearly committed to the two degree goal," she said, adding that the G7 nations were prepared to put forward billions of dollars in financing to combat climate change.
    "We are committed to the goal of making $100 billion available per year from 2020 from private and public funds," she said.
    Merkel, once dubbed the "climate chancellor" and hoping to revitalise her green credentials, urged the G7 leaders to commit to tough goals to cut greenhouse gases ahead of a larger year-end United Nations climate meeting in Paris.
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