Tagged with TTIP

TTIP will be a licence for multinationals to profit at all costs

378113A small victory for democracy was recorded at the European Parliament recently when it was announced that a long-awaited debate about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was to be postponed.

TTIP is the trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the USA. Its text is secret, known only by the negotiators (including representatives of multinational corporations). Drafts are withheld from MEPs and members of all the European national parliaments (as well as US congressmen and senators). Almost two million Europeans have petitioned against it. Continue reading →

TTIP and the rule of law: a response to Jude Kirton-Darling MEP

No TTIPThanks to Jude Kirton-Darling MEP for replying to our previous article. No-one could suggest she was capable of doing anything ‘shabby’. We are grateful that it is she, not us, who has to deal with the complex procedures of the European Parliament which she describes. We make several points of substance by way of response.

Investor protection and ISDS

First, the form of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) proposed by the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, whilst an improvement on the original ISDS, is utterly unacceptable. ISDS in that or any other form still gives a unique legal privilege to multinational corporations to sue governments outside the democratically scheme of laws and courts of the EU and its Member States. On this we and Jude appear to be in total agreement. Continue reading →

How Labour & Social Democrat MEPs are fighting for the millions who oppose ISDS

No TTIPJude Kirton-Darling, Labour MEP for the North East of England and European Labour Party spokesperson on TTIP writes in response to Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC

In an article published last Friday by the Morning Star and Institute of Employment Rights, Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC accused Labour and Social Democrat MEPs of backing a “shabby” compromise on TTIP: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently being negotiated between the EU and the US. As a Labour MEP for North East England, and the European Labour’s spokesperson on TTIP, I have been closely involved in drafting the European Parliament’s resolution on TTIP. I am firmly opposed to ISDS, and have repeatedly stated that I will oppose TTIP if it threatens our public services, our standards or our democracy. I voted according to these principles last week, and will certainly be guided by them in the vote on the resolution in plenary this Wednesday. In this piece I will attempt to set the record straight in this response to Professor Ewing and John Hendy’s criticism. Continue reading →

Labour & social democrat MEPs back a shabby compromise on TTIP

No TTIPThe Socialist and Democratic group of MEPs (which includes UK Labour) have agreed to a “shabby compromise” supporting TTIP, leaving all the most unjust elements of the deal intact say Professor Keith Ewing and John Hendy QC

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the secret trade deal currently being negotiated between the EU and the US. Its text is a closely guarded secret shared only by the negotiators, including representatives of multinational corporations.

Drafts are withheld from both MEPs and members of all the European national parliaments, as well as US Congress and Senate members. Continue reading →

Why Scotland and the UK should oppose TTIP

No TTIPPoliticians can be so fixated by the benefits of free trade that they are missing the real dangers of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US. In my view TTIP is primarily about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking and labour regulations. It is, as John Hilary, of War on Want, said: “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.” Continue reading →