New round of EU, US free trade negotiations

Brussels - Negotiators from the United States and the European Union kicked off Monday a new round of talks on a landmark free trade deal, with an agreement not yet believed to be in sight.

The two sides have been negotiating the mammoth free trade pact, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), for a year. It would create the world's largest free-trade area with the goal of spurring growth and jobs.

The EU now hopes that the negotiations can wrap up in early 2016, a senior official said on condition of anonymity, before the US presidential election in November of that year.

"If it is possible to conclude an ambitious and balanced agreement with the current US administration, it would be good," the official said ahead of this week's sixth negotiating round, which lasts through Friday.

"There is not an official timeline, but certainly there is a willingness to continue working intensively," he added.

The agreement has faced resistance, however, with opponents on both sides of the Atlantic fearing that it could water down consumer protection provisions - despite repeated assurances by negotiators that they would not compromise on such standards.

EU parliamentarians, who will need to approve any eventual deal, have also complained that the negotiations are not being conducted transparently enough.

The two sides will have to overcome significant differences in their regulations too, for instance in areas such as agriculture.

"There is still a long way to go on these dossiers," Italian Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said this month. "I trust that there will be an effort on both sides to come to an understanding."

But the overall talks were described as "challenging" by US negotiator Dan Mullaney after the last round in May.

He predicted that "a lot of creativity and a lot of persistence" will be required. The seventh round of negotiations is expected to be scheduled for September, the EU official said.