We did it! One million signed the TTIP petition
Date: 4 December 2014
One million voices are now raised against TTIP throughout Europe!
Having been refused permission to start a European Citizen’s’ Initiative in September, campaigning organisations the length and breadth of the continent started their own self-organised petition and have reached a million signatures today. That’s in less than three months.
It is apparent that the supporters of TTIP are rattled. David Cameron repeats the claims that TTIP will add £10 billion to the UK’s economy and say it is time “we start taking on some of the opponents of this deal and exposing some of the arguments against.”
Cameron is right to be wary. After supporting a secretive and shadowy process, the campaign is forcing the negotiations, partially at least, into the cold light of day. Awareness is rising and opposition is appearing everywhere, geographically and across political viewpoints.
The very fact the negotiation process in secret has rung alarm bells. Experience of other trade and investment deals, including their impact on job losses and benefits for corporations has rung further bells. The lack of evidence of the economic promises has fed the distrust, discontent and ultimately the opposition to the trade deal.
Vince Cable has tried to allay fears about corporations suing governments under TTIP, saying it’s not very likely to happen. But today new research has been released from Friends of The Earth Europe showing that those sorts of court cases have successfully been won against EU member states 127 times since 1994. Details of the compensation sought by foreign investors was publicly available for only 62 out of the 127 cases (48%), representing almost €29 billion.
The petition will continue. It is a brilliant indication of the strength of opposition across Europe. Alongside lobbying and protests, it is one of the many tools we will deploy to ensure TTIP does not become a reality.
Next week, we’d like to cordially invite you to a festive TTIP carolling session on Tuesday the 9th of December in London. We’ll be getting our merry wassails on from 5pm at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills , before moving on to another location. We’ll also be handing in the million signatures to BIS as a Christmas Card.
Please share the link www.wdm.org.uk/ttip with your friends and let’s make the petition even stronger.
