On Friday, the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) in Luxembourg held a monthly luncheon event at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Luxembourg-Dommeldange, attracting an audience of 90+ members to listen to Vivian Reding, MEP for Luxembourg.

Alison MacLeod, Chairman of the BCC Luxembourg, introduced the event by explaining that the EU is currently negotiating the Trade and Services Agreement (TESA).

She introduced Viviane Reding as a EU Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2010-14, and current MEP, and who has a specific background in foreign trade agreements.

Viviane Reding opened her address by calling for more openess and better reules; better regulation means a level playing-field which is the opposite of legal uncertainty.

Services, in particular digital services, have become so important in today's economy. "We are still in the stone age, we have not seen anything yet".

She acknowledged that trade is part of geopolitics and said that she has a particular expertise in technology and telecommunications.

Looking at trade from a purely economic perspective, the US is trying to corner China; in his last State of the Union address, he completely omitted any reference to the EU.

By 2050, none of the EU Member States are likely to remain in the G7 such is the emergence of other powers. She siad that Europe has been far too defensive on trade negotiations for too long and needs to wake up. Negotiations have been carried out in an "ivory tower" for too long, with most people not knowing what was happening. She said that people are afraid as they are not informed - they fear that something negative is happening behinf closed doors.

From mid-2014, the European Parliament became involved in the TTIP trade negotiations which were led by the European Commission, with the EP holding the right to veto. She revealed that the EP "blackmailed" the EC negotiator by threatening to veto the end decision, and managed to achieve a role in the negotiations.

From the beginning, she stated that the issues of transport, services and eCommerce did not fit in with the overall concept; a number of committees were set up and led to the proposal of 600 amendments which were bundled into 69 consolidated amendments.

In trademark fashion, she referred to European Parliamentarians as being split into two types: "those who make laws and those who make noise".

She also explained that we want to move froma pluri-lateral agreement to a multi-lateral agreement, with around 70% achieved to date.

It is important to have a common framework of international rules, particularly in eCommerce and eServices nowadays, with other countries (Pacific rim, India, China, etc.) coming expected to join in the future: she expressed reservations to leaving China out in an unregulated environments, stressing that it is better to have them on board in the same framework.

Re TTIP, she admitted that this is "a difficult one", particularly if it stands as it is now. One issue is the right to regulate - we currently look at such regulation at a regional and national level, but this needs to change to being international. She also said that some elements should not be covered, including those in the social and cultural model, as is the workings of civil services. She also said that protection of personal data in Europe will not be part of the TTIP and will stay as it is. She also referenced other issues such as transparency related to mobile roaming costs. She said that we still do not know if the agreement is to be voted by national parliaments, an issue that is currently with the European Court of Justice - negotiating the agreeemnt is one thing, ratifying it is another.

On the issue of the Brexit talks, she accused Britain being "a nuisance" as those talks have been a distraction to the trade negotiations.

Photos by Geoff Thompson (above, L-R): Viviane Reding, MEP; Alison MacLeod, BCC Chairman