TTIP is on the floor, the referee is counting down…
By: Oriana Lauria
Date: 2 September 2016
“TTIP has failed, but nobody wants to admit it.” Vice-Chancellor of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel
“France is demanding the pure, simple and definitive halt of these negotiations.” Trade Minister of France, Matthias Fekl
We’ve had an incredible victory this week. Some of the leading proponents of the EU-US corporate trade deal, known as TTIP, have said that the deal is dead.
We would never have got to this position without the tremendous mobilisation across Europe over the last 3 years. This has been one of the most significant movements in recent European history.
CETA: a new threat on the horizon
Of course, these statements are a ploy. TTIP has become so toxic that opposition is now infecting CETA – the Canada-EU trade deal which is TTIP’s little brother. European politicians were scared that opposition to TTIP would prevent the passage of CETA through the European Parliament – which they hope will happen later this year. So they are sacrificing TTIP to save CETA.
That means that we really can beat CETA. And we must, because CETA is simply TTIP by the back door. It includes the anti-democratic ‘corporate court’ system which allows foreign corporations to sue governments in special courts not open to ordinary people. It’s a risk to public services, financial regulation and decent food standards – just like CETA.
We are also working to halt other deals like TISA – the Trade in Services Agreement, which is a super-privatisation deal being negotiated by 50 countries. We are also going beyond opposition, by working up a positive alternative for trade agreements – what would a good trade deal look like? Following Brexit, the UK now needs to negotiate dozens of trade deals, and we want to make sure the debate is not dominated by free market fundamentalists.
In a nutshell, we want to celebrate the victory we have achieved together on the TTIP campaign. But this is not the end – we need to get active now to stop CETA.
