International

Negotiations over the neoliberal trade treaties TTIP and CETA must be immediately halted, SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk said in today’s debate with Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen. "The TTIP is a constitution for multinationals," Van Dijk argued. "Europe will be flooded with American products if this treaty goes through. A race to the bottom in relation to wages, working conditions and consumer protection will clearly be the result. American corporations, moreover, will be able to lodge claims for millions of euros if the Netherlands introduces laws which threaten their profits."

Prior to the parliamentary debate, eight agricultural organisations, together with the environment defence group Milieudefensie and the farmworkers" union FNV Sector Agrarisch Groen (Agrarian Green) issued a manifesto calling for negotiations on the TTIP to be halted. The SP is in complete agreement that TTIP will result in the European market being flooded with American farm products, produced under lower standards of working conditions, food safety and environmental protection than those which prevail in the EU.

Van Dijk warned that in the case also of CETA, the treaty with Canada, TTIP will sneak in by the back door. CETA is already complete and will shortly be officially approved in Brussels. It remains uncertain, however, whether the Dutch national parliament will have any chance to give its views on the treaty. "That’s idiotic, of course," says Van Dijk. "Parliament must be able to give its judgement when it comes to far-reaching trade treaties. A referendum on TTIP and CETA would be even better."