In search of the truth about TTIP
Date: 1 September 2015
So where to start with TTIP (meaning the transatlantic trade and investment partnership)? It’s the biggest attack on our democracy I’ve ever known, and everyone’s starting to talk about it.
Where did you hear about it? Not likely to be on the front page of your newspaper unfortunately!
The truth is, the most likely way you may have heard of TTIP is through the movement of local activists, the social media movement or perhaps one of the rare moments that it’s made it into the mainstream media. Thank goodness for the NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations).
TTIP has had me up in arms for several months, pushing me past personal barriers of dyslexia and different health problems, because it’s just so incredibly wrong! I feel so strongly about it that I’ve been out on the streets of Edinburgh, running stalls, giving out leaflets and asking people to sign the big European petition against TTIP.
What really bothers me about TTIP is that it’s different to other attacks on our democracy, as it seems to encompass an overwhelming threat to almost all the things that I care so deeply about. I’m going to list a few harms that could easily arise from a lowering of standards, regulations and laws as a result of TTIP, and some really juicy slip ups and leaks from MEPs. Brace yourself, it’s not going to be pretty.
So here goes…
TTIP could mean a lowering of environmental law where even our clean water act could be in danger because of something called regularity harmonisation. Standards, regulations and laws that protect our environment, human rights, food safety and quality and animal welfare, could be seen as barriers to trade and permanently lowered. These are protections and standards our county has worked towards for centuries.
We could see governments sued by multi-national corporations using something called ISDS (a system of courts outside national legal systems) if they think their profits might be damaged by laws that governments are passing. It’s quite likely that even the threat of it might make governments nervous about passing some laws, if they think they might then get sued under TTIP. Unfortunately you did hear me right! ISDS has been already been doing this through other bilateral trade agreements all over the world…
Imagine for just a minute how long our country’s budgets would last if we were to keep being sued!
There is also a horrible plan for possible irreversible privatisation of public services. We could see all of our much needed services, including our health care, in the hands of corporations for profit instead of in the hands of people for good services and care. I don’t want to see the people of our country on a long waiting list for future operations we can’t afford to pay for!
In my search for more information, and the truth about TTIP, I went up to Aberdeen for a TTIP Summit organised by the Hansard Society. Conservative MEP Ian Duncan spoke at that event and left me more confused than ever about what exactly is in TTIP. Ian Duncan told us that the NHS is off the table, full stop, but he was also earlier recorded saying it was “still in negotiation”, clearly contradicting himself. And when asked whether our NHS could be legally exempted, putting all of our minds to rest, he replied that it couldn’t because it’s still in negotiation.
On the other hand, SNP MEP Alyn Smith says that legal exemptions are possible at this stage in the negotiations, as France has been able to make a legal exemption for audio visual. So why not our NHS?
In my quest for answers, I also went to the Scottish Parliament to listen to Lord Livingston, UK government trade minister, giving evidence to the European and External Relations committee. What I heard from him was that the European Commission reserves the right to detain information, and adapt and change TTIP as it’s being negotiated. That made me think that we can only trust the Commission’s word the moment it is spoken and that moment alone – as they may then change TTIP negotiations only a moment later.
I guess it’s up to us to make our own minds up. It’s such a secret, non transparent negotiation. My feeling is that when things are all good, there’s nothing to hide, right?
PS – A massive thank you to everyone who has been joining in the good fun leafleting at weekend stalls to get the on-going stop TTIP petitions signed. Cheers!
