Brussels, 16/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - After publishing the results on Tuesday 13 January of the public consultation on investment protection (which confirmed enormous scepticism), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has insisted that including an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) is not necessary, given the very high level of investment flows between the EU and US.
During a bilateral meeting on Thursday 15 January, ETUC Secretary General Bernadette Ségol congratulated European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström on her efforts at increased transparency in the TTIP negotiations, and she called for these efforts to be extended to other trade negotiations - particularly with Japan and China. Ségol also insisted on the trade agreements including a “strong and enforceable” chapter on labour, which would guarantee the rights of workers and unions. She insisted on these agreements explicitly excluding public services.
As regards the chapter on investment protection, Ségol told Malmström that ETUC was not opposed to the free trade agreement with South Korea (partly because it did not include an ISDS mechanism) - but she said that she was against the CETA trade agreement with Canada (because it includes an ISDS mechanism, and because it does not support labour rights and is not clear enough on public services). ETUC states that one of the dangers of the CETA comes from the ISDS arrangement and from the fact that 80% of US companies in Europe are also in Canada - and could therefore start ISDS proceedings from Canada, even if there was no ISDS in the TTIP.
“I have never heard anyone claim that the lack of special legal procedures for investors was a barrier to US companies investing in the EU or vice-versa. So why is ISDS necessary? It is hard to understand why the Commission does not simply drop ISDS and concentrate on a TTIP which has some hope of being ratified by the European Parliament and member states”, Ségol states in a press release. (EH)