The 2014 European Parliament Elections and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership : Economics and Politics Collide

This article examines the 2014 European Parliament elections and their impact on the future functioning of the EU and, in particular, their effect on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (“TTIP”) negotiations. This analysis proposes the resultant thesis that political leaders in Europe have undertaken and will continue to navigate a cautious, even timid, course through the sensitive issues threatening their political security, including especially EU-related issues. Thus, the EU’s political leaders will exercise a diminished willingness to engage in meaningful negotiations of trade concessions and regulatory compromises, yielding a modest TTIP or perhaps no agreement at all. Along the way, the national leaders will try to fight a backfire in the European Parliament, resisting post-Lisbon Treaty attempts by the Parliament to aggrandize stronger leadership power