Smaller German firms see EU-US TTIP trade deal as a big hurdle

Berlin

MARTINA Roemmelt-Fella, who owns a small, family-run turbine manufacturer in Bavaria, should be a cheerleader for a trade deal between Europe and the United States that promises to ease the flow of goods and services across the Atlantic.

But instead she fears the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) being hammered out between Brussels and Washington will give too much power to big multinationals at the expense of small companies like hers. "The proposals are being negotiated behind closed doors with the help of 50 or 60 big corporates," said Ms Roemmelt-Fella, whose firm is one of the thousands of small and medium-sized companies known as the "Mittelstand" that account for 89 per cent of Germany's exporters and form the backbone of the economy. "TTIP may bring significant benefits for big multinationals, but I don't think there are big advantages for the Mittelstand," she added.