Brussels, 06/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - In an open letter addressed to MEPs that was published by Corporate Europe Observatory on Tuesday 3 March, 375 civil society organisations speak of their “deep concern” about the threats posed by the future EU-US free trade agreement (TTIP) to democracy, and the protection of workers and the environment.
The organisations call on the European Parliament (which is preparing to vote in May on a resolution drafted by the chairman of its international trade committee, Bernd Lange - S&D, Germany) “to agree on a strong resolution that makes clear that the European Parliament will reject any future trade or investment agreements that will not serve the public interest and threaten important rights acquired in long democratic struggles in the EU, US and the rest of the world”. The 375 organisations say they represent “a wide range of public interests” including environmental protection, public health, civil rights, agriculture, consumer rights and protection of food and farming standards, animal welfare, social standards, workers' rights, migrants' rights, unemployment, youth and women's issues, public access to information and digital rights, essential public services, integrity of financial systems and development.
The organisations' key demands are: - total transparency on all documents relating to the negotiations (including the draft texts of the agreement); - the guarantee of a democratic process which allows the scrutiny of negotiated texts, and involves the European Parliament and national parliaments, as well as civil society; - the exclusion of a clause on an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism or any provision that would give privileged rights to foreign investors; - the exclusion of a regulatory cooperation council, so as to leave all regulations fully in the hands of democratically controlled bodies; - the non-harmonisation, but safeguard, of higher social standards on social, environmental and health issues and on data protection, as well as a broad application of the precautionary principle; - the refusal of deregulation or privatisation of public services, the safeguard of guaranteed access to health care and high quality education, and the right to choose government procurement that promotes the local economy and social considerations; - the promotion of humane and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, and the protection of small family farming; - the preservation of governments' power to protect certain sensitive sectors, to safeguard standards that are important for the quality of life in Europe, and to have international standards on labour and the environment respected; - the exclusion of any restriction on international and European standards on human rights. (Emmanuel Hagry)