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Germans doubtful on EU-US TTIP pact: poll
Published: 05 May
2016
Germans are growing
increasingly wary of a vast EU-US trade pact currently under
negotiation, an opinion poll showed Thursday, as Chancellor Angela
Merkel said she hoped for a deal by year-end.
Some 70 percent of
Germans polled by the dimap institute for broadcaster ARD said the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal would
bring "mostly disadvantages", up from 55 percent in a
similar poll in June 2014.
For 79 percent of
those questioned, consumer rights were the biggest worry, ARD said.
Only 17 percent saw
"mostly advantages" in the deal, against 31 percent just
under two years ago.
The poll covered 500
people representing a cross-section of the population, ARD said.
Merkel, meanwhile,
reiterated her government's official position Wednesday, saying that
she would "do everything to conclude the negotiations",
preferably by the end of 2016.
But German Economy
Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned last month that negotiations on the
free trade deal "will fail" if the US refuses to make
concessions.
"The Americans
want to hold fast to their 'Buy American' idea. We can't accept
that," he said.
France has also hit
out at the pact, with President Francois Hollande saying this week
that Paris would reject it "at this stage" because his
country opposes "unregulated free trade".
Tens of thousands of
Germans have taken to the streets in protest against the pact,
including during US President Barack Obama's Germany visit last
month.
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