Is This EU-US Trade Deal A 'Once-In-A-Generation' Opportunity?

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (‘TTIP’) might not have come up on the radar for most folk but perhaps it should. The silence is largely down to something of media blackout – with a few exceptions. Why this might be makes one wonder given that it could have wide-ranging ramifications and information is out there at the click of a mouse.

One of the few media outlets in the UK to pass comment, The Guardian, carried an article last November by environmental campaigner George Monbiot titled ‘This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy.’ He noted the silence coming out of Brussels on the issue.

In essence TTIP is a comprehensive free trade and investment treaty presently being negotiated – in secret – between the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.). The main objective is to remove regulatory barriers or differences, which limit or restrict the potential profits to be made by transnational corporations.

A panel of corporate lawyers will effectively be able to overrule national Parliaments and democratically elected Governments, through a mechanism called the ‘Investor -State Dispute Settlement’ (ISDS). It is already being used by companies in various parts of the world including Canada and El Salvador to dampen regulations designed to safeguard citizens and protect the planet.

The barriers are considered by a number of campaigning organisations such as War on Want, a UK-based anti-poverty charity, to be some of our “most prized social standards and environmental regulations”. These include labour rights, food safety rules, regulations on the use of toxic chemicals, digital privacy laws and even new banking safeguards introduced to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. The stakes could not be higher.

The intention to launch TTIP negotiations was first announced by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address in February 2013, and the first round of negotiations took place between European Commission and U.S. officials in July 2013.

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, who wrote a 42-page document titled ‘The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): A Charter for deregulation, an attack on jobs, an end to democracy’ (Feb 2014) explains: “The aim is to rush through the talks as swiftly as possible with no details entering the public domain, in the hope that they can be concluded before the peoples of Europe and the U.S. find out the true scale of the TTIP threat.” The document is available in English, French, Spanish and other languages to download via their website.

So, what exactly is the threat? On top of the deregulation agenda behind TTIP, it is also seeking to create new markets by opening up public services and Government procurement contracts to competition from transnational corporations, thereby threatening – as some campaigners like Hilary argue – “to introduce a further wave of privatizations in key sectors, such as health and education.” For some corporates this may be seen as bonanza time.

Perhaps most concerning of all to them is that TTIP seeks to grant foreign investors a new right to sue sovereign states in front of ad hoc arbitration tribunals for loss of profits resulting from public policy decisions. This reinforces the view that multinational corporations will run rampant in pursuit of profit.

The ISDS mechanism, as Hilary puts it “elevates transnational capital to a status equivalent to the nation-state itself”, and threatens to undermine the most basic principles of democracy in the EU and U.S. alike. Some have suggested it poses the greatest threat to democracy since World War Two.

Currently there is a growing body of concern among U.S. and EU citizens over the threats posed by TTIP. Civil society groups are now joining forces with academics, parliamentarians and others to prevent pro-business Government officials in basically signing away the key social and environmental standards. Over 100 groups across the EU, including the UK-based World Development Movement, have signed a document expressing their opposition to TTIP negotiations.

In the UK a series of protests were staged this July in towns and cities across the country against the proposed deal. Campaigners also launched a ‘Citizens’ Initiative’ petition to the European Commission with the aim of getting a million signatures against the deal.

Elsewhere, Campact, a German grass roots campaigning group, also launched a petition calling for a stop to the TTIP negotiations. So far 625,000 have signed. One million signatures are needed to stipulate that the EU Parliament spends a day discussing this petition.

Teresa Villiers, a British MP and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, responding in a standard letter to comments on TTIP from Phil Fletcher, a stalwart Green Party campaigner in London who stood in May’s local elections in England (in her constituency), believes this partnership is “a once in a generation opportunity”.

The argument put forward is that it would lead to significant benefits in terms of jobs and growth, with the potential to deliver £10 billion (c.US$16bn) to the UK economy each year. However, a study by academics from Manchester and Ghent universities casts doubt over the figure and estimates that in reality the likely effect on growth would be a fraction of this amount.

Furthermore, while the European Commission has claimed the deal would bring people in the UK and the rest of Europe an extra £2 (c.$3.2) per person per week by 2027, a European Commission study has forecast that one million people across the UK, Europe and the U.S. could lose their jobs through the deal. So, the jury is out.

Highlighting concerns the Slovak Government has already been sued under a legal system similar to that being proposed under TTIP for reversing health privatization policies.

On environmental regulations, Fletcher notes: “The EU has openly acknowledged that TTIP will further intensify pressure on the environment, and that it will add an extra 11 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (Co2) to the atmosphere, making it difficult for the EU to meet ITS emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto protocol.”

It does seem a tad strange that there has been no attempt by the UK Government to inform or consult the public about what Monbiot calls “this monstrous assault on democracy”, especially given the fierce debate about continued British membership of the EU. This is a debate that is likely to run.