Cecilia Malmström - Commissioner for Trade
Honourable Members,
We're here today to talk about investment in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Of all the issues in TTIP it has received the most attention and raised the most concern.
In some ways that's surprising. Over 60 years, national governments in the EU negotiated 1400 bilateral investment treaties without any outcry. That network helped European companies become the largest foreign investors in the world. And the investments they made helped create the wave of prosperity that swept Europe in the post-war decades. Moreover, for the countries we partnered with, the deals encouraged much needed capital inflows and created employment.