International

The SP is concerned and outraged by the fact that the European Parliament has given the European Commission the green light to proceed with negotiations on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). This treaty will mean the opening of the market in services to companies from fifty countries across the world, including the United States, Taiwan and Pakistan.

SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur warns that this will lead to the undermining of democracy and of social achievements. “The Parliament did support my amendment to make the eight core treaties of the International Labour Organisation, the ILO, firm conditions,” she says. “These concern amongst other things matters such as child labour, forced labour, the right to unite in a trade union and the right to conclude collective labour agreements. To my frustration Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has already announced that she won’t be going to any trouble to defend this.”

Mineur is further concerned by the ‘no turning back’ clause which Malmström is determinedly holding on to. The clause “ensures that we won’t any longer be able to change the rules back, even if the treaty results in things other than what we expect. You would think that this would be reason enough for the social democrats to vote against, but to my astonishment they are supporting it. This treaty is a noose, and we shouldn’t be sticking our necks into it.’