"The leaked texts also reveal how the European Commission is preparing to open up the European economy to unfair competition from giant US corporations, despite acknowledging the disastrous consequences this will bring to European producers, who have to meet far higher standards than pertain in the USA.
"According to official statistics, at least one million jobs will be lost as a direct result of TTIP -- and twice that many if the full deal is allowed to go through. Yet we can now see that EU negotiators are preparing to trade away whole sectors of our economies in TTIP, with no care for the human consequences.
"The European Commission slapped a 30-year ban on public access to the TTIP negotiating texts at the beginning of the talks in 2013, in the full knowledge that they would not be able to survive the outcry if people were given sight of the deal. In response, campaigners called for a 'Dracula strategy' against the agreement: expose the vampire to sunlight and it will die. Today the door has been flung open and the first rays of sunlight shone on TTIP. The EU negotiators will never be able to crawl back into the shadows again.
"For those of us in the thick of the EU referendum debate, the contempt shown by the TTIP negotiators to the people of Europe is the most potent reminder of the democratic deficit at the heart of the EU institutions."
The revelations are disconcerting for the British and European peoples. For example, the Independent reports that TTIP could cause the privitazation of the National Health Service and the UK Parliament would be powerless to stop it.
See also here.
In our debate, Sean O'Grady performed as a shill, a propagandist for the corporate interests behind TTIP. He said that it was a free trade agreement that benefitted everyone just as NAFTA and other such agreements have proved to be the case. Tell that to all the displaced American workers.
He said that it was unfortunate that the secrecy had possibly hurt the agreement's prospects and that it would have been better if the pact's provisions had been known as they were negotiated. That way, he said, the agreement would not be threatened by the shock effect of the leaked documents.
O'Grady also claimed that no one has thus far agreed to the pact despite the fact that the representatives have agreed to the pact. Perhaps what he means is that legislatures have not given their approval.
The headline on the Independent article suggests that the leak will prevent approval: "After the leaks showing what it stands for, this could really be the end for TTIP." If so, O'Grady regards it as a great loss. For the global corporations, of course, not for the peoples it would exploit.
The Greenpeace revelations should deep-six the pact, but I am uncertain. French president Hollande says, provisionally, that France will not sign the pact as it is. In other words, give us some fuzzy language to make it look like we got it fixed.
The EU's chief negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, a likely recipient of a large bribe, rushed to the defense of TTIP by declaring Greenpeace to be "flatly wrong." Bercero's statement makes no sense. Greenpeace released the official documents. No one denies that the leaked documents are legitimate. So apparently Bercero's position is that the official documents are wrong. He sounds like a guy working hard for his money.
Bercero, went on to say, according to the BBC, that "it is not correct to say the US is pushing for lowering of the level of protection in the EU." This is an amazing lie! Those who are trying to put a good face on the leak themselves admit that this is precisely what the US is trying to do. They claim that the Europeans haven't yet given in.
It is disingeneous for Bercero or O'Grady or anyone to pretend that TTIP has not been from the very beginning about establishing global corporate hegemony over the governments of democratic countries. I pointed this out when the corporations first made their move. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific "partnerships" are about giving global capitalism immunity from the laws of sovereign countries.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilla Malmstroem is, according to the BBC, "steering the TTIP talks." Malmstroem, another likely recipient of a large bribe, says: "I am simply not in the business of lowering standards."
Her statement is misleading. She is not in the business of lowering standards. She is in the business of making it possible for global capitalism to overthrow all standards, high and low.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
3
3
