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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now then, one of the key arguments put forward by people who want Britain to stay in the European Union is that trade benefits of being a member are just too good to lose. Well now the EU is trying to make membership even more beneficial for all its members by forging an historic trade deal between Europe and the mighty United States, so can he do it and what would it do to the EU debate in the UK? I say he because I’m joined now by the EU Commissioner for Trade and embroiled in those negotiations, he is Karel de Guch and a very good morning to you. I know you have just had a recent session in Washington, just give us a sense of the prize you estimate to be at stake here? What’s in this for Europe?

KAREL DE GUCH: I think you have to see the immediate and the longer term. Immediately it will give us a lot of benefits with respect to jobs and growth in hundreds of thousands and that can come very soon if we manage to do this deal let’s say by the end of next year. The longer term however seems to me to be more important and that’s the so-called Regulatory Approximation whereby we bring the regulations in the US and the EU closer together thereby making sure that we will keep our predominant role in the world’s scene also for the next generations because the next big fight let’s say, the next big battle in trade is about norms and standards and regulations and disciplines and it is very important that we can call the shots.

DM: And this is leading to a lot of areas of concern, those very issues you’ve discussed there. To what extent is Europe going to compromise on issues like, I mean they are so diverse aren’t they – GM food, data protection, financial services, the list goes on and I know you’re well across all of them but Europe is going to have to compromise, isn’t it, in some areas?

KAREL DE GUCH: Compromising doesn’t mean you have to give in. We made it very clear from the start that we are not going to change our basic legislation, I have to say that a hundred times that we already have a question on the hormone beef for example, well we are not going to import hormone beef just as we haven’t done that recently in the deal with Canada and the same with data protection, the United States have their data protection law and we are presently considering a new on in the European parliament. It is only starting from there that we see if we can organise a free flow of commercial data between EU and US but with due respect to the existing legislation and we will be very strict on that. Let me give you one example, the so-called Safe Harbour. What does it mean? It means you have an American company and that is considered to be a safe harbour for the data that goes to it. Now it has become clear in this recent turmoil that a number of companies in fact didn’t live up to the conditions they had subscribed to in the Safe Harbour agreement so we are going to tighten them. So we will create the conditions, the safe conditions so that of course you need a free flow of data, of commercial data, in such an enterprise economy, you can’t do it elsewise, but we will do it with respect to our legislation and we are not going to compromise on that. DM: What would you say to a member state such as our own here in the UK, which is considering leaving the European Union? It’s going to have a referendum on that very issue if this government is returned and one of the big reasons it says it wants to stay in the European Union, one of the things it likes, is trade. Would you say you’d be mad to leave with this sort of prize on offer?

KAREL DE GUCH: I would never say of a member state that it is mad but I think they would make a big mistake because this kind of trade deal, I am pretty sure about it, you can only negotiate them between big blocks. They are extremely complicated agreements and they are not only on say the traditional stuff like tariffs and public procurement but the bigger part of it, the big chunk is about regulation and that you can only do between big blocks because it is tremendously complicated and how could a country accommodate its regulation with several smaller or medium sized countries, it is impossible. You have to go to a standard and that standard we are now trying to establish between the EU and the US.

DM: Last question, of course trade has had a huge role to play, EU trade, in the current Ukrainian problems, that deal that was negotiated between the EU and Ukraine and we hear Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the opposition leaders now saying she doesn’t see it as being too long before Ukraine could possibly join the European Union.

KAREL DE GUCH: Let’s distinguish, I have been negotiating with Ukraine because the association, 95% of it is a trading, what they call a deep and comprehensive …

DM: Do you think it could still happen?

KAREL DE GUCH: I believe that yes, they are going to sign that deal. I don't know when, first you need a government for that and it has to take a democratic decision and it has to be in a stable situation but yes, we have always said that this deal is ready to sign and it is on the table. So we can do it and I think we should do it but that doesn’t mean that it can become a member of the European Union, that is quite something else. I am not going to express myself on prospective for the longer term, what we offer in this trade deal is in fact everything but membership and that I think is what Ukraine needs to come closer to the European economy, to the European standards, to the European values and then we will see afterwards what is the next step but that’s not on the table now. By the way, I don’t see this as a competition between the EU and Russia, I don’t mind that they are doing business with Russia, the more business they do the better.

DM: You think they can do both obviously.

KAREL DE GUCH: Of course, of course, that is what Putin is saying all the time, that it is either/or. No, it is certainly not, it’s and/and and we shouldn’t fight about those countries, you know. They are sovereign countries and they have to decide about their own future. What we are offering them is entry into our market which is the biggest in the world, the best developed in the world and the closest to them, that’s what we are offering them but they can continue as much as they want and they can even develop their trade with Russia, we don’t have the slightest problem about that.

DM: Well Commissioner, a pleasure talking to you, thank you very much. EU Trade Commissioner there Karel de Guch, thank you very much indeed.