TTIP Free Zone: Today Barcelona, tomorrow the world!

By: Guy Taylor
Date: 28 April 2016

There seems to be a regular characteristic amongst councillors, wherever they’re from. They appear to think their home town, city or island is the most special place, that it’s circumstances are unique and that everyone else will be fascinated to hear the story. Having 40 to talk together from 40 different places might seem a little daunting considering this, but a very positive event on TTIP Free Zones has just happened in Barcelona.

 

Approach a councillor about making their council a TTIP Free Zone and the chances are the initial reaction is one of “that’s not in the remit of our council” or “we can’t opt out of an international trade deal!” or “that would be just symbolism”.

 

All these statements are both true and not true.

• A single council can’t but we can collectively opt out of TTIP, by stopping it being agreed.
• Any council, representatives of the people living in an area, has a remit of representation, despite the limitations and shackles placed upon it by national government, meaning that taking a view on TTIP is not just legitimate, but local authorities should feel obliged to let their views be known. 
• Symbolism ceases to be symbolism when a critical mass of councils have taken a stand against TTIP. I would suggest 1500 TTIP Free Zones in the EU constitutes more of a movement than a symbol.

Last week’s gathering of elected representatives in Barcelona ensured all of the above responses are false. It set about making TTIP free Zones more than a case of agreeing a resolution and feeling smug about it. Discussions focused on the impacts of TTIP on local government, perhaps best explained by a councilor from Mallorca. She said of her island which is almost exclusively dependent on tourism, that the council does not represent business owners, but the hotel workers and others who work in the tourism industry. The owners? They are rarely seen and best tracked down through documents such as the Panama Papers.

From Birmingham and Vienna to Corfu and small Spanish villages, the representation in Barcelona was diverse. Each councillor explained their predicament and contributed to a wide ranging discussion on expected impacts of TTIP and CETA, and then agreed a declaration which calls for the immediate end to negotiations on TTIP and a refusal to ratify CETA.

The declaration is robust, if a little long. the highlight is undoubtedly:

We demand that current negotiations on TTIP and TiSA be suspended until the concerns of  local and regional governments have fully taken into account in the ratification in any of these treaties.

With a call like that from elected representative from across the EU, you know we are hitting some of the right notes.

You can download the full declaration below.

The deputy mayor of Grenoble in France then announced they would host a further event to widen and deepen the TTIP Free Zone campaign. No date has yet been set, but we will certainly have a longer run up to the event. It would be to the benefit of our movement here to have more councils represented at the next conference. we are also looking at ways to unite the TTIP Free Zones movement on a UK basis.

If you want more advice or ideas about campaigning for a TTIP Free Zone in your local council, please contact [email protected]