International

Today is National Action Day in the Netherlands against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and US, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada. These two treaties give a free hand to corporations and show no concern for workers’ rights, sustainability or safety. Democracy in the Netherlands and Europe hangs in the balance.

A decisions will shortly be taken in Brussels on the implementation of the CETA. The European Commission wants to apply this treaty without giving any say to the Netherlands’ Parliament. “That’s unacceptable in my opinion,” says Jasper van Dijk, an SP Member of Parliament. “We should have maximum input into this kind of far-reaching treaty.” Amongst other actions, Van Dijk and the SP are urging Dutch citizens to write to Prime Minister Rutte to protest against the exclusion of their representatives in Parliament from the decision-making process.