International

SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur is calling on European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to put an immediate stop to negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Jasper van Dijk, an SP Member of the national Parliament in The Hague, is issuing the same appeal to Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen. In an interview with German television, the country’s Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel acknowledged that since the start of the talks agreement has not been reached on a single chapter. According to Gabriel this is because the European Union will not accede to the Americans’ demands. The SP has opposed the trade treaty with the United States, as well as the CETA, the similar agreement with Canada, since the very start.

SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur reckons that dawdling with the TTIP has gone on long enough. “It’s long been clear that the American and European methods of legislating are incompatible,” she says. “We would have to accept what are unacceptable amendments in the rules protecting the safety of our food, our working conditions and our environment. The establishment of a separate judicial process for foreign investors, the Investor-State Dispute Settlement – the ISDS, would be a major attack on our legal security, while the role which it would give to corporate business in establishing new laws and regulations would destroy our democracy. Following the Brexit referendum the participation of the United Kingdom in the treaty had already been called into question, and now Gabriel has withdrawn Germany’s support for the treaty. So as far as we’re concerned the situation is clear.”

Mineur says she cannot understand why Gabriel continues to give his support to the Comprehensive Economic and trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada. “The similarities between the CETA and the TTIP are much bigger than the differences,” she points out. “So the threats it poses are hardly any smaller. Moreover most US corporations have subsidiaries in Canada, via which they can simply bring their cases to court under the ISDS. CETA is TTIP via the back door, so if you don’t want the TTIP, you also have to block the CETA." Both Mineur and Van Dijk are to put questions on the Gabriel interview in their respective parliaments.