Transatlantic talks aim to create opportunities by easing trade and investment Opinion: ‘Irish people, based at the crossroads of the commercial relationship between our two continents, will be among the biggest beneficiaries of TTIP agreement’ ‘TTIP is far from secret. Every step in the process, from the first decision to explore the idea, taken by Presidents Obama, Barroso and Van Rompuy in 2011, to the approval of the EU’s negotiating mandate under the Irish EU presidency, has been publicly announced and widely reported.’ Above, EU commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht at a Brussels press conference focused on a public consultation on investment protection in TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) on March 27th, 2014. Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images David OSullivan Fri, Oct 17, 2014, 00:01 There is not enough discussion in national media of EU policies, and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which would be the world’s largest bilateral trade agreement, certainly merits close scrutiny. In that sense, I welcome Frank McDonald’s contribution on Tuesday’s opinion page to the Europe-wide conversation on the talks. He is mistaken, however, in assuming that these are secret negotiations which aim to “sacrifice sovereignty on the altar of free trade, with big corporations calling the shots”. In fact the TTIP negotiations, mandated by democratically elected EU governments, aim to create new opportunities for consumers and workers in Ireland, Europe and the US by making transatlantic trade and investment easier. Irish people, based at the crossroads of the commercial relationship between our two continents, will be among the biggest beneficiaries. McDonald’s article misrepresents the negotiations in four ways: First, TTIP is far from secret. Every step in the process, from the first decision to explore the idea, taken by presidents Obama, Barroso and Van Rompuy in 2011, to the approval of the EU’s negotiating mandate under the Irish EU presidency, has been publicly announced and widely reported. Four formal consultation rounds were organised allowing the public to provide input into the EU’s positions on various aspects of the negotiations. The European Commission subsequently made those positions public, on a detailed official TTIP website, once they had been agreed with the European Parliament and national governments. In addition, negotiators talk to representatives of consumers, trade unions and environmental NGOs, as well as business. They devote a significant part of each round of talks listening to outside views in public sessions. And any final agreement will have to be debated and approved, in public, by the European Parliament and national governments before it would ever take effect. Second, the EU agrees with critics’ concerns about today’s investor state dispute settlement rules. However, we want to use our investment negotiations with countries like the US to improve them, rather than abandoning the system altogether. EU’s approach It is impossible to know the outcome of the Philip Morris v Australia and Lone Pine v Canada cases, since they are still under way. But it is not impossible to say that the EU’s approach is to make controversial cases like these much more difficult, while still using these treaties to encourage job-creating investment. For example, EU investment deals would make sure that the right to make policy in the public interest is sacrosanct, that grounds for complaint are kept to clear cases of uncompensated expropriation, discrimination and unfair treatment, and that arbitration is impartial and transparent. This is what we have done in the recent agreement with Canada. In any case, the TTIP investment negotiations are currently on hold, pending the outcome of a public consultation that attracted 150,000 submissions. The EU’s future position will be informed by those public comments and decided in consultation with the European Parliament and national governments. Secret TPP treaty- Intellectual Property Chapter working document for all 12 nations with negotiating positions WikiLeaks release- October 16, 2014 wikileaks.org/tpp-ip2/tpp-ip2-chapter.pdf
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:41:46 +0000
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