TTIP is on the rocks. Let's defeat these toxic trade deals! - The Ecologist

TTIP is on the rocks. Let's defeat these toxic trade deals! - The Ecologist

 

TTIP is on the rocks. Let's defeat these toxic trade deals!

Guy Taylor & Nick Dearden

The TTIP EU-US trade deal has finally hit the rocks
with massive popular opposition on both sides of the Atlantic gaining
serious political traction, write Guy Taylor & Nick Dearden. There's
now a good chance that TTIP will be defeated - but first we must make
sure that CETA, the equally toxic EU-Canada 'Trojan Horse' deal, bites
the dust.

What now has TTIP and CETA
in trouble is the continent-wide resistance of ordinary people in both
Europe and North America. It is this transatlantic movement of peoples
that can - and we believe will - defeat both of these toxic trade deals.

Could things get any worse for TTIP?


On Monday the hugely damaging leak of consolidated texts
confirmed exactly what everyone had feared about the deal, with all its
massively pro-corporate provisions on display for everyone to see.


And then the following day the French government launched one of the
most high profile attacks on TTIP that's ever been seen. Whether TTIP
survives these body blows is debatable, but it is almost fatally
wounded.


Francois Hollande, the French president, is lagging in the polls and
his threat to block TTIP could be seen as a gambit to shore up some
votes. But it is a reflection of the popular mood in the country, where
the media's negative reporting on TTIP has soared in the past fortnight.


Hollande said at a conference that he could not accept "the undermining of the essential principles of our agriculture, our culture, of mutual access to public markets."


France's lead trade negotiator, Matthias Fekl, now thinks talks will
be halted. He argues that the EU has bent over backwards to offer the US
what it wants but the generosity has not been reciprocated.


TTIP backers must be livid - including Cameron!


This follows similar recent comments from Germany's Economic Minister Sigmar Gabriel: "Whether
we can reach a deal this year really depends on whether we can create
trust in the process. And unfortunately, we are very far from creating
trust in the process."


These growing French and German concerns reflect the current state of
negotiations, as revealed by the May Day leaks which indicate that the
EU's precautionary principle (not allow things on the market until
proven safe) may be sacrificed in favour of the US so-called 'scientific
principle' (don't ban anything from sale until it is proven dangerous).


The news from France is already causing arguments and tension in the
European Commission. The UK's pro-'free trade' camp must be livid, with
David Cameron having previously claimed that TTIP was his own idea.


Last year he announced he wanted to put rocket boosters under the
negotiations. But now he'll be wanting to fit stabilisers. Because these
latest developments follow a series of disasters for TTIP.


We released papers last week that show that the UK government isn't
taking the corporate courts too seriously. In fact, the only risk
assessment they've carried out on TTIP strongly advises the government that there are lots of risks and no benefits.


CETA - a Trojan horse for US corporations' attack on Europe


Events have also been moving rapidly last week on CETA, an EU-Canada
'free trade' deal similar to TTIP that's a lot closer to being ratified.
CETA risks becoming a Trojan horse for TTIP, with many of the same
provisions, including the infamous corporate court system.


Although the EU Commission has created a reformed version of this system in CETA, all the most notorious cases we cite would still be a problem
under this 'new' system. So CETA is effectively a backdoor to TTIP,
with any US corporation operating in Canada able to exploit its
provisions to sue EU governments should they take decisions that may
impact on expected profit margins.


In June the EU Council will see European governments come together to
ratify CETA. Although final government approval is expected in
September, the June meeting is the last chance for European governments
to raise serious objections. It will then go to the EU parliament, where
we expect a vote next January or February.


One problem with EU trade deals is that they can come into effect even without a vote in member parliaments. Under something known as 'provisional implementation',
the European Commission could bring CETA into effect before national
parliaments have had the chance to debate - and reject - an
international treaty.


This includes the now infamous corporate court system. In other
words, a corporate case could be brought against the British government
before Parliament has even ratified CETA. In fact, even if the British
parliament voted CETA down, the corporate court system would still stay
in effect for three years! The June meeting is the last chance
governments have to block these processes.


Although we didn't expect to win any victories at the Council, that's all changed. First up, Romania, in dispute with Canada over visa issues, has threatened to veto CETA at the June meeting. Next, the Walloon parliament voted a critical motion on CETA
that could tie the hands of the Belgian government and force it's
abstention. The Dutch parliament also voted last week in support of a
non-binding motion to reject provisional implementation. The Netherlands
might yet hold a referendum on CETA too.


With TTIP on its knees, we need to double our efforts to prevent this
similarly toxic deal from being ushered in through the back door. With
the EU referendum approaching, is David Cameron really going to attend
an EU meeting and support the idea that CETA come into effect without a
parliamentary vote?


We have two months to convince him that that's a terrible idea.


It's not EU versus US - it's corporations versus people


There is a danger, however, in framing TTIP as a battle between the squabbling components of the EU and the US.


What is now clear is the sheer scale of opposition to 'free trade'
deals in the US. All leading presidential candidates have expressed some
opposition to the current free trade agenda, with even free trader
Hillary Clinton saying she's deeply uneasy. A new opinion poll shows only 18% of Americans support TTIP, down from 53% in 2014.


This matters because Obama only has eight months left in office and
it seems unlikely that substantial progress will be made in that time.
After that, the future is anyone's guess. That's a key reason Obama came
to Germany last week - to speed things up.


But the US President was met by tens of thousands of protestors in
Hannover - making clear that in Europe too, TTIP is toxic. The same
opinion poll already quoted found 17% of Germans support TTIP - down
from 55% two years ago. TTIP campaigning is reporting to have
accelerated substantially in France, and it's growing as an issue
throughout Europe.


The truth is that TTIP and CETA are essentially means for the
corporate world to impose its agenda on the rest of society. Negotiators
on both sides are doing the bidding of a highly effective and
well-resourced corporate lobby.


What now has TTIP and CETA in trouble is the continent-wide
resistance of ordinary people in both Europe and North America. It is
this transatlantic movement of peoples that can - and we believe will -
defeat both of these toxic trade deals.



 


The TTIP Trojan Horse joins Green / EFA MEPs and hundreds
of citizens from across Europe protesting against the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), February 2015. Photo: greensefa
via Flickr (CC BY).