On August 16, Friends of the Earth Malta and the Front against TTIP (2014) organised a protest in Valletta objecting to a shady US-EU trade deal.

The event was linked to hundreds of other demonstrations across Europe that have been held this year against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and its Canadian counterpart, CETA.

Around half the world’s GDP is generated by the two economic behemoths, Europe and America.

Big business has long been pursuing the ultimate goal of a barrier-free transatlantic market, putting profits first as established health and environment standards risk being swept aside.

EU negotiators still have a long way to go before they convince their European audiences of the benefits of TTIP.

Despite marked differences, the EU and US boast the two most sophisticated regulatory systems in the world covering basic environmental, labour and consumer protections in their trade agreements.

Those behind the treaty want to increase the power of multinationals at the expense of democracy and the general good. Groups of companies whose business might be affected by environmental laws would have insider influence on draft laws, even before these are discussed by elected parliaments.

The setting up of an advisory group on trade and investment between the US government and the EU in 1995 set a precedent. It was the first time the private sector gained such leverage with an official role in determining EU-US policy in its early stages.

The Trojan horse treaty has been touted by business lobbyists through the European Commission, as a gift horse bearing jobs and opportunities that will boost economic growth. The Directorate General for Trade holds the mandate to negotiate the treaty on behalf of the European Commission.

Yet many politicians, economists, and civil society groups are more than cynical about the supposed benefits of the treaty. The fact that contact between corporate interests and the Commission’s DG for Trade massively outweighs that of NGOs, trade unions, and others representing public interests does not bode well.

Meetings between the Commission and industrial representatives numbered 119, while only 11 meetings took place with other organisations, showing a clear bias.

Watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) identified agriculture and pharmaceuticals as the sectors engaged in the fiercest lobbying. CEO observed that harmonising EU and US laws under the treaty could drive down existing standards on both sides of the Atlantic – “undermining consumer protection, sustainable agriculture, environmental protection and labour rights”.

A secretive legal system, virtually unknown to the public until a few years ago, is at the heart of discussions on TTIP.

The treaty proposes extension of a controversial mechanism to settle disputes between investors and States. Building on an existing Investor-State Dispute Settlement system, adopting the ISDS will make it easier for businesses to sue governments in secret corporate courts whenever new laws protecting people and the environment get in the way of their profits.

This could see governments back off from legislating for better health and environment standards if it could result in the State being hauled to court at the expense of taxpayers.

Law firms and corporate lawyers are the main beneficiaries of the booming investment arbitration system. They will be the ones to gain if ISDS is included in TTIP. The treaty is being crafted so that even if the State won a case to stop an offending corporation it would still have to pay half of the massive court fees.

Political groups in the European Parliament and national governments have called for the exclusion of ISDS from the EU-US trade agreement.

Corporate aspirations point to the ‘Tee-Tip’ deal being concluded next year. The European Parliament will be restricted to a simple Yes or No vote once the treaty is finalised next year.

It was only under pressure from critics that the TTIP negotiating mandate was made public last October, but green trade spokesperson Yannick Jadot has called the transparency gesture “opaque” since not all documents have been accessible.

Harmonising EU and US laws under the treaty could drive down existing standards on both sides of the Atlantic – ‘undermining consumer protection, sustainable agriculture, environmental protection and labour rights’

“The devil is in the detail and we need to be sure that those negotiating on the EU’s behalf do not budge an inch on EU standards.”

In recommendations to EU trade negotiators, voted in by MEPs last month, it was put forward that any deal opening up the US market to EU firms must not undermine EU standards.

To settle trade disputes between investors and States, a new justice system run by publicly-appointed judges and subject to scrutiny, should replace private arbitration under the existing ISDS system, said the MEPs.

The EU and its member states are under intense pressure to allow genetic modification and an environmentally harmful method of drilling for fossil fuels called fracking.

While favouring continued talks, the MEPs stressed there could be no agreement in areas where US standards are very different from those in Europe, for example on chlorine-rinsed poultry, antibiotics, hormones, cloning of farm animals, chemicals and GMOs.

The introduction of lower quality products on our supermarket shelves, coupled with lack of labelling would deprive consumers of their right to make informed choices, warned Friends of the Earth.

The European Parliament has asked the European Commission not to allow any watering down of hard-gained Reach restrictions on chemicals that could put human health at risk: “The Commission should recognise that, where the EU and the US have very different rules, there will be no agreement.”

With an ear to the ground, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies admits that: “EU negotiators still have a long way to go before they convince their European audiences of the benefits of TTIP.”

A demonstration against TTIP in Germany is planned for mid-October. The protest is organised by Europe’s largest industrial trade union, which fears the treaty will pose risks for both consumers and workers.

Union president Detlef Wetzel warned that the exact contents of the treaty were being “negotiated in backdoor dealings by a small group”.

A European citizens’ initiative aims to prevent standards from being lowered, and public services (such as water) and cultural assets from being deregulated in non-transparent negotiations. Despite rejection from the start by the Commission, the initiative continues as a ‘self-organised’ bid for democracy.

With the Trojan horse treaty reducing standards to the lowest common denominator, TTIP has been tagged as a race to the bottom. Disappointingly, both the Maltese government and the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry have come out in favour of the treaty.

https://stop-ttip.org