Within two months, on 25 May, Spanish voters elect their 54 MEPs. It is important that this time, when voting is known clearly what is at stake. So
far, for historical and psychological reasons, most of the
Spanish-Jubilant be finally "European" - did not bother to read the
programs and blindly voted in elections to the European Parliament. The
brutality of the crisis and ruthless austerity policies demanded by the
European Union (EU) have forced them to open their eyes. Now they know that is mostly in Brussels where his fate is decided.
Among the issues, this time, be followed more closely is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement (ATCI) (1). This
agreement is being negotiated with the utmost discretion and without
any democratic accountability between the European Union and the United
States (U.S.). It
aims to create the largest free trade area in the world, with nearly
800 million consumers, which account for almost half of gross domestic
product (GDP) and one-third of global trade.
The EU is the largest economy in the world: its five hundred million people have an average annual income of 25,000 euros per capita. That
means that the EU is the largest market and the largest importer of
manufactured goods and services, has the largest volume of foreign
investment, and is the main recipient of foreign investment planetarium. The
EU is also the largest investor in the U.S., the second export
destination for U.S. goods and the largest market for U.S. exports of
services. The trade balance in goods sheds, for the EU, a surplus of 76,300 million euros and the service, a deficit of 3,400 million. The EU direct investment in the U.S., and vice versa, is around 1.2 billion euros.
Washington
and Brussels would close the ATCI treated in less than two years before
the end of the term of President Barack Obama. Why the rush? Because, to Washington, this agreement has a geostrategic nature. It
is a decisive weapon against the relentless rise in power of China, and
beyond China, the other emerging powers of the BRICS group (Brazil,
Russia, India, South Africa). Should
be noted that, between 2000 and 2008, international trade in China grew
more than four times its exports increased by 474% and imports by 403%. Consequence?? The
U.S. lost its lead in the world trading power he held for a century ...
Before the global financial crisis of 2008, the U.S. was the most
important states in the world for 127 trading partner China it was only
for 70 countries. That balance has been reversed. Today, China is the largest trading partner for 124 states, while it is only for USA 76.
What does that mean? Beijing,
within a maximum period of ten years, could make its currency, the yuan
(2), the other major international currency exchange (3), and threaten
the supremacy of the dollar. It is also increasingly clear that Chinese exports are not only low quality products at affordable prices for their cheap labor. The
objective is Beijing raise the technological level of production (and
its services) to be tomorrow leader also in sectors (IT, finance,
aviation, telephony, ecology, etc..) That the U.S. and other Western
powers thought to preserve technology. For
all these reasons, and essentially to prevent China from becoming the
world power, Washington wants to shield large free trade areas to which
products would be difficult to reach Beijing. Right
now, the U.S. is negotiating with its partners in the Pacific (4), a
Trans Free Trade Agreement (Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP, in English),
asian twin Transatlantic Agreement (ATCI).
Although ATCI began to take shape in the 1990s, Washington has pushed to speed things up. And
the actual negotiations were initiated immediately after, in the
European Parliament, the right and social democracy approved a
negotiating mandate (also accepted, in Spain, in the proposal submitted
jointly by the Congress of Deputies, by the PP and the PSOE ...). A
report by the Working Group on High-Level Jobs and Growth established
in November 2011 by the EU and U.S., recommended the immediate start of
negotiations.
The first meeting took place in July 2013 in Washington, followed by another two in October and December (5). And
although negotiations are currently suspended due to disagreements
within the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate (6), the two sides are
determined to sign as soon as the ATCI. From
all this, the big mainstream media have said little, hoping that the
public does not become aware of what is at stake, and that Brussels
bureaucrats can decide on our lives peacefully and in full democratic
opacity.
Through
this agreement marked neoliberal character, U.S. and EU want to
eliminate tariffs and open their markets to investment, services and
government procurement, but mostly try to standardize the standards,
rules and requirements for market goods and services. According
to proponents of this free trade project, one of your goals will be "as
close as possible to a total elimination of all tariffs on
transatlantic trade in industrial and agricultural goods." As
for services, the idea is to "open the service sector, at least as much
as has been achieved in other trade agreements to date 'and expand it
to other areas, such as transport. On the financial investment, the two sides aim to "achieve the highest levels of liberalization and investment protection." And
on public contracts, the agreement intended that private firms have
access to all sectors of the economy (including the defense industries),
without discrimination.
Although
mainstream media unrestricted support this neoliberal agreement, the
reviews have multiplied especially within some political parties (7),
many NGOs and environmental organizations or consumer protection. For
example, Pia Eberhardt, member of the NGO Corporate Europe Observatory,
reports that negotiations have been conducted without democratic
accountability and civil organizations without their knowledge in detail
of what has been agreed so far: "There are internal documents European
Commission-declared activist-indicating that this is met in the most
important phase exclusively with entrepreneurs and their lobbyists. There was a single encounter with environmental organizations, trade unions, and with consumer protection organizations "(8). Eberhardt notes with concern a possible reduction in the requirements for the food industry. "The
danger she says make it unsafe food imported from USA which could
contain more transgenic chickens or disinfected with chlorine, procedure
banned in Europe." He added that the U.S. agricultural and livestock industry requires the elimination of European exports to such obstacles.
Other
critics fear the consequences of ATCI in education and scientific
knowledge, it could extend to intellectual property rights. In this regard, France, to protect your important audiovisual sector, and imposed a "cultural exception". The ATCI not cover cultural industries.
Several
unions claim that, without a doubt, the Transatlantic Agreement delve
into social cuts, reduction of wages, and destroy jobs in various
industries (electronics, communications, transport equipment, metal,
paper, business services ) and agricultural (livestock, biofuels,
sugar).
European
environmentalists and advocates of fair trade ATCI further explains
that by removing the precautionary principle could facilitate the
removal of environmental regulations or food and health security, while
can be a loss of digital freedoms. Some
environmentalists fear that NGOs also start introducing fracking in
Europe, or the use of hazardous chemicals to aquifers, in order to
exploit the gas and oil shale (9).
But
one of the main dangers of ATCI is that it incorporates a chapter on
"investment protection", which could open the door to multi-million
dollar claims of private companies in international arbitration courts
(serving large multinational corporations) against the United for
wanting these protect the public interest, which can be a "limitation of
benefits for foreign investors." Here what is at stake is simply the sovereignty of States and their right to carry out public policies in favor of its citizens. For ATCI, citizens do not exist, there are only consumers, and these belong to private companies that control the markets.
The challenge is immense. And the civic will to stop ATCI be not less. (1) In English, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
(2) The value of the yuan is aligned on the U.S. dollar.
(3) In April 2011, as part of the BRICS Summit in Sanya (Hainan Island,
China), an agreement on financial cooperation among the five emerging
powers who plans to open credit lines on their coins was signed
respective national, in order to reduce dependence on the dollar. In 2008, Beijing had already signed such an agreement with Argentina.
(4) Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
(5) On the European side, the chief negotiator of the EU is the Spanish Ignacio Garcia Bercero.
(6) Read Le Figaro, Paris, October 4, 2013.
(7) See, for example, the resolution on the ATCI adopted by Left Unida: http://www.izquierda-unida.es/sites/default/files/doc/RESOLUCION_TLC_UE_EEUU_ConferenciaEuropa_Junio2013.pdf ; And the position of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the 'Parti de Gauche' French: http://europe.jean-luc-melenchon.fr/sujet/grand-marche-transatlantique/
(8) Read in Spanish D eutsche Welle, February 17, 2013, http://www.dw.de/tratado-ee-uu-ue-libertades-recortadas/a-17438697
(9) Read "A Brave New Transatlantic Partnership", 4 October 2013, http://corporateeurope.org/trade/2013/10/brave-new-transatlantic-partnership-social-environmental-consequences-proposed-eu-us |
