TTIP ‘Secret Council’ neither democratic nor transparent
TTIP ‘Secret Council’ neither democratic nor transparent
The way in which the European Commission wants to hand the pass on legislation straight to corporate business is causing the SP great concern. New proposals regarding the free trade treaty with the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), remove democratic control from the people’s representatives and draw a line through the independence and transparency of our laws and regulations.
SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur is determined to resist Trade Commissioner Malmström’s proposals. ‘The Commissioner wants to farm out the formulation of new regulations and laws to a sort of “Secret Council” composed of those with a direct interest,’ Mineur says. ‘Who would sit on that body isn’t clear, but that corporate business will have a big, fat finger in the pie is not open to doubt. Whether independent social organisations would be able to participate remains the question. Instead of a democratically elected parliament, whose composition already reflects all interested parties, Malmström is handing this task to a body which lacks any transparency and need give no explanation of its decisions.’
The SP is completely opposed to the TTIP as well as all other free trade treaties via which the European Union is transferring major powers to corporate business. For this and other reasons, the SP is demanding a referendum on these treaties.