Schulz on the postponement of the vote on the TTIP resolution

"After consultations with group leaders and the rapporteur and in accordance with Rule 175 of the Rules of Procedure, I decided to postpone the vote on the TTIP resolution to give more time to the International Trade Committee to further reflect on the outstanding issues and to reduce as much as possible the large number of amendments tabled.

I requested this to defend and advance the position of the European Parliament as a whole on a crucial issue. The Commission is negotiating an agreement of global importance with the United States. The European Parliament needs to contribute with a clear and unequivocal position. What we should have is a strong text by the European Parliament and what we should avoid is that Parliament adopts a resolution which is neither here or there, or, even worse, is not able to adopt a resolution.

By failing to adopt a strong text on this dossier, the European Parliament would weaken its power on one of its key, hard-fought prerogatives.

For these reasons I have decided to give an additional opportunity to the International Trade Committee to reflect on this crucial and far-reaching issue. I am sure that the next weeks can be put to good use for this purpose.

This morning, in accordance with Rule 152 of the Rules of Procedure, I put it to the plenary to decide democratically whether the Members wanted to also postpone the debate on TTIP to move it closer to the vote and a majority of MEPs did so."