In a joint report published on Monday 19 September, the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), the European Public Services Union (EPSU), Friends of the Earth Europe and around 20 other European civil society organisations, including Attac and the Council of Canadians, reveal how the EU-Canada free-trade agreement (CETA) could make EU member states vulnerable to costly lawsuits from North American investors that threaten the public interest.
Entitled "CETA – Trading Away Democracy", the report shows that the investment chapter of CETA remains a substantial threat to European democratic decision-making. Once ratified, CETA will codify the right for Canadian and US investors with subsidiaries in Canada to sue EU member states as well as the European Union for legislation which could negatively affect their profits. CETA does not include any obligations for those investors, explain the organisations behind the report.
The organisations also state that existing trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement show that the majority of such cases are filed over laws protecting public health, the environment and labour rights, pitting corporate profits against the public interest. The organisations warn that the investment chapter of CETA will lead to a boom in investor claims.
Despite changes in the investment clauses, CEO warns that CETA still fails to protect the EU and member states from investors attacking public interest legislation. The organisation warns that “these claims are to be decided in arbitration courts located outside the framework of national and European Union jurisdictions. This parallel justice system makes court proceedings expensive, untransparent and biased, which burdens public budgets and challenges democratic decision-making”.
EPSU states that it is “not acceptable” that public services like healthcare be liable to special investor courts when these services exist first and foremost to serve the public. The report is available at the following website: https://goo.gl/zG0TJv. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)