Response from an MEP regards the TTIP. Read it and make your own mind up: Dear Mark Longstreath, Thank you for contacting me with your queries regarding the on-going negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In your email you raise three main issues; concern that TTIP will enable corporations to dispute UK laws and protections (presumably via the proposed ISDS provisions); a threat to ‘permanently privatise our NHS’; and public support against TTIP. I shall deal with each issue in turn. Regarding the assertion that TTIP will enable corporations to use investment protection provisions to sue the UK government or to overturn our laws; from the very beginning of these negotiations, the UK Government, the British Conservatives, the ECR group and the European Commission have all made it clear that the freedom of national governments to regulate would be explicitly protected. The purpose of an ISDS mechanism is to safeguard our investors from protectionist discrimination; it cannot be used to overturn laws, at most it can lead to compensation being paid where an investor has a legitimate claim of grievance. This should not be perceived as a threat to Britain’s national regulations; the UK already has 90 similar bilateral investment agreements in place and has never lost an ISDS dispute. To date only two cases have ever been brought against the UK under ISDS; neither was upheld and neither was in connection to a change of public policy. In contrast, ISDS has been used by British companies a number of times to seek redress from unlawful actions of foreign governments. Nevertheless, in seeking greater clarity and assurances on this issue, the European Commission conducted a wide-ranging public consultation between 27 March and 13 July 2014. In addition, the UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has commissioned its own research into the matter. As you will appreciate, the negotiations are still very much a work in process, whether an ISDS mechanism will be included in the final TTIP proposal is yet to be determined. With regard to your concern that TTIP could lead to the NHS being forcibly privatised, this is simply not the case. TTIP does not change the fact that it is up to individual nation-states alone to decide how their own healthcare systems are run. There is no requirement within TTIP for the UK to open up our healthcare services to private sector provision. To ensure this, all EU trade deals provide three guarantees for the protection of public services: 1) Monopolies – member-states have the right to organise public services so that only one supplier provides the services, in our case, the National Health Service. 2) National Treatment and Market Access – For publicly-funded healthcare systems (i.e. the NHS), EU member states do not have to treat companies from outside the EU the same as those from within the EU, and therefore do not have to provide access to their markets. 3) Regulation – EU trade agreements leave EU member-states free to regulate public services. This includes choosing which suppliers to grant licenses for a particular service as well as setting the necessary quality standards. These guarantees form an unequivocal commitment to protect every member-states’ autonomy in healthcare provision. Your third point refers to growing public support against TTIP. I have to say this is not something I recognise from the discussions I have had with constituents and local businesses here in the South East. Of course there are some concerns and uncertainties over specific areas of detail, and we shall continue to explore and resolve these in the on-going negotiations before the final proposal is decided upon. But whilst seeking to resolve these issues we must not lose sight of the great benefits and potential of TTIP, both to Europe and to Britain. Economic studies cited by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills predict a successful agreement could be worth up to £10 billion annually to the UK – that is almost £400 per household. The extension of free trade means more choice of goods at lower prices and more jobs as a result. Furthermore, TTIP would be of particular benefit to our small businesses here in the South East, which struggle to attain the legal and financial resources to cope with the current regulatory differences and barriers to trade. In conclusion, I remain adamant that TTIP will prove to be a great source of trade, wealth, investment and job creation to Britain. The extension of free trade across the North Atlantic is not only something that should be done, but something that should have been realised a long time ago. Whilst a number of policy issues remain to be resolved in the on-going negotiations, I remain hopeful that the unrivalled potential of TTIP is not cut down into insignificance by the narrow-minded protectionism of other member-states. Kind regards, Nirj Deva DL MEP n.b Apologies if you have already received this response, we recently experienced an email account crash and seek to guarantee that you did indeed receive your reply.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 03:50:48 +0000
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