EC's Transparency Spin Falls Flat as TTIP Made Even More Secretive The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the biggest trade deal ever negotiated.
Yet all British MPs know about it is what little the European Commission (EC) decides to tell them -- and that's about to become a lot less. Last week German website Correct! V revealed that one of the only sources of information for what happens in secret TTIP negotiations will end. The EC will now no longer send updates of TTIP talks to national governments or parliaments. This means that the only way an MP can know what's going on inside TTIP negotiations is to travel to Brussels to gain access to documents in a special, secure reading room. More than 2.4 million people have signed a petition against TTIP.
Some have pointed out that this represents a significant expense for limited budgets; others have rightly pointed out that they wish to share paper copies with stakeholders. Common Space - Chris Ramsey: Is the SNP getting ready to toe the line on TTIP? Flashmob choir interrupts TTIP congress. Boing Boing | 3 July 2015 Flashmob choir interrupts TTIP congress Cory Doctorow The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a secret EU/US trade agreement that "puts the right to profit above all other rights," in the words of one MEP.
Like its cousin, the Trans Pacific Partnership, TTIP is being negotiated by trade officials and industry reps, without any oversight from elected legislators and without any participation by citizens’ groups, environmental groups, or labor groups. And like TPP, it is expected to arrive with Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions that lets offshore corporations sue your government to overturn the democratically enacted environmental, labor and safety laws that undermine their profitability. At a pro-TTIP congress where the Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister was promoting the treaty, a flashmob of attendees stood up singly and then in bunches, singing "Do You Hear the People Sing? " At this point, you may be asking yourself, well, so what? Exclusive: Campaigners criticise SNP TTIP resolution for conference.
Meet The Most Powerful Court You've Never Heard Of - BuzzFeed News. Common Space - TTIP summit hears from lead negotiator after Lord Livingston’s attempt to hush disquiet. A TTIP summit in the Scottish Parliament heard from a lead negotiator in the trade deal discussions between the EU and the US, who reinforced UK Trade Minister Lord Livingston’s claims earlier in the day that “publicly funded services are excluded” from the trade deal.
Holyrood’s European and External Relations Committee heard from Livingston on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on Thursday before a summit in the evening heard from Colin Brown, a lawyer intimately involved in the negotiations. Both insisted that the NHS and public services as a whole could not be privatised because of the trade deal. The claims came as Unite’s general secretary Len McCluskey accused Livingston of not knowing “whether he’s coming or going” after Livingston said on 1 September 2014 that the NHS would not be excluded from the deal. TTIPing the balance. Which way will the SNP go? TTIP is the culmination of thirty years economic ideology.
Liz Murray explores the opportunities to take a stand and defend Scotland against a new corporate assault. Tomorrow, at its spring conference, members of the Scottish National Party will vote on a motion tabled by MEP Alyn Smith expressing ‘strong dissatisfaction’ about the content and process of TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. This reflects growing opposition to TTIP across civil society, here in the EU and in the US, as the ‘big business’ agenda behind the treaty becomes clear. What MEPs voted today on TTIP - North East Labour. TTIP is an affront to democracy. Prime minister David Cameron loves to portray himself as the defender of British sovereignty in his dealings with the EU.
But as the volume of his anti-EU posturing increases, he is busy pushing for a deal that will hand the sovereignty of his country, and others, to multinational companies. The next round of negotiations on the EU-US trade deal (also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP) begin in Brussels on Tuesday 15 July. Flashmob choir interrupts TTIP congress. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a secret EU/US trade agreement that "puts the right to profit above all other rights," in the words of one MEP.
Like its cousin, the Trans Pacific Partnership, TTIP is being negotiated by trade officials and industry reps, without any oversight from elected legislators and without any participation by citizens' groups, environmental groups, or labor groups. And like TPP, it is expected to arrive with Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions that lets offshore corporations sue your government to overturn the democratically enacted environmental, labor and safety laws that undermine their profitability. At a pro-TTIP congress where the Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister was promoting the treaty, a flashmob of attendees stood up singly and then in bunches, singing "Do You Hear the People Sing?
" TTIP from the Polish perspective - Visegrad Plus. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement may constitute a significant chapter in the consolidation of relations between USA and European countries, including traditionally pro-American Poland watching recent developments.
Negotiations on the TTIP have been going on for nearly two years. The agreement is aimed to liberalize trade exchange between the USA and EU. The talks are held by the United States Trade Representative office and the European Commission representing European countries. They may be concluded this year[1] but this is getting more and more unlikely.[2] Meanwhile, contradictory opinions about the meaning of the TTIP agreement are formulated. Against these disputes, Poland’s stance is explicitly positive but representing a number of nuances. In her expose from October 2014, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz declared that Poland is going to seek the conclusion of agreement about free trade between the EU and USA in possibly shortest time. . [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] ; The Young Turks - TPP Grants Banks Terrifying Secret Powers. UK Doctors Warn TTIP Means Certain Death for Public Healthcare. Doctors in the United Kingdom are warning that passage of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will mean certain death for the country's public healthcare system, opening the door for privatization and lawsuits from the United States' for-profit medical industry.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the British Medical Association (BMA) in Liverpool on Tuesday, Dr. Henry McKee of Belfast warned members that "if there is anything resembling an [National Health Service] by the time this treaty is in negotiation, it won't survive this treaty. " What is TTIP? And six reasons why the answer should scare you - Comment. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US.
As a bi-lateral trade agreement, TTIP is about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. It is, as John Hilary, Executive Director of campaign group War on Want, said: “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.” Since before TTIP negotiations began last February, the process has been secretive and undemocratic.
If you want to know why TTIP would be a nightmare, look what just happened in Canada. If anyone tries to convince you that TTIP is no threat to a government’s ability to protect its people, just point them to Canada.
Last week, Canada’s government was successfully sued for daring to turn down a large mining quarry which threatened to cause environmental damage in Nova Scotia. It is the latest in a long line of cases which have been brought against Canada, for attempting to introduce environmental protection, under the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). And these cases have been brought about under exactly the same mechanism - known as ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) – which is at the centre of the TTIP deal.
TTIP: the biggest threat to democracy you've never heard of. Last weekend, The Daily Mail published a guide to vacuum cleaners being removed from the shelves as a result of new EU regulations. Yesterday the Daily Express said that now the EU is coming for our kettles. These are typical eurosceptic tabloid stories that have had many people fired up; they’ve turned relatively niche issues into a mainstream panics. TTIP wins key panel vote. The Parliament’s trade committee passed a resolution backing the EU-US free trade agreement on Thursday, including a deal on the controversial investor state dispute settlement, after the two main political groups forged a compromise.
The panel took up dozens of amendments, but all eyes were on one vote: a compromise on the investor court struck late Wednesday between the European People’s Party and the Socialists & Democrats. The panel voted, 29-10, for the amendment, which settles to use the ISDS reform proposal recently pitched by Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström as a basis for “a permanent solution for resolving disputes between investors and states … where potential cases are treated in a transparent manner by publicly appointed, independent professional judges in public hearings and which includes an appellate mechanism,” ensuring “a consistency of judicial decisions [and respecting] the jurisdiction of courts of the EU and of the Member States.”
Blow for citizens as EU court backs privileged corporate access to EU trade talks. Skip to main content Blow for citizens as EU court backs privileged corporate access to EU trade talks June 4th 2015 Dangerously legitimising the European Commission's practice of granting privileged access to trade talks to corporate lobby groups, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has today ruled (link is external) against Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in an appeal over Commission conduct during the EU-India trade negotiations. EU dropped pesticide laws due to US pressure over TTIP, documents reveal. EU moves to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals linked to cancer and male infertility were shelved following pressure from US trade officials over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade deal, newly released documents show.
Draft EU criteria could have banned 31 pesticides containing endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). But these were dumped amid fears of a trade backlash stoked by an aggressive US lobby push, access to information documents obtained by Pesticides Action Network (PAN) Europe show. On 26 June 2013, a high-level delegation from the American Chambers of Commerce (AmCham) visited EU trade officials to insist that the bloc drop its planned criteria for identifying EDCs in favour of a new impact study. Minutes of the meeting show commission officials pleading that “although they want the TTIP to be successful, they would not like to be seen as lowering the EU standards”. One Night In Brussels: #NoTTIPTrain.
By Ross McKay Last week I set off from Aberdeen for Brussels with my Kilted Comrades Alistair and Martin to protest against TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) and CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) – two mega trade deals between the EU, US and Canada. Why Germany Is Backing Away From a Trade Deal that Lets Corporations Sue the Government by Alexis Goldstein. The Independence Live Blog. The biggest threat to UK sovereignty is the TTIP corporate power grab. The US-EU Trade Deal Could Make the UK Election Mostly Pointless. Osborne’s bid to end democracy by the back door. This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy.