EU-US trade negotiations must be transparent

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20-06-2013 (updated: 21-06-2013 )

The negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States must be opened up for public scrutiny, aruges Natacha Cingotti.

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0 responses to “EU-US trade negotiations must be transparent”

Anonymous says:

25/06/2013 at 06:38

We must be very cautious about this – the public has a right to know. We do not want our EU standards on protection for the citizens rights to be further eroded.

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Anonymous says:

16/07/2013 at 23:14

This agreement will undermine democracy, as EU Member States could soon find domestic laws to protect the public interest challenged in offshore tribunals. This could have implications for bans on fracking, as US companies could use this agreement to challenge bans on the grounds that they hamper free trade.

Below is a relevant extract from a recent leaked briefing of the TTIP agreement:
“In Europe, Chevron wants the “the strongest possible protection” from government measures to “mitigate the risks associated with large-scale, capital intensive, and long term projects […] such as developing shale gas”. Because of its health and environmental impacts, several EU governments have decided to put a break on shale gas development (‘fracking’). TTIP’s proposed investment protection chapter would empower energy companies like Chevron to challenge such precautionary measures because it would oblige governments “to refrain from undermining legitimate investment-backed expectations”, as Chevron demands (see Box 1 for a legal precedent under NAFTA). The mere threat of a million-Euro investor-state lawsuit could be enough to scare governments into submission and weaken or prevent fracking bans and strict regulation. In Chevron’s words:
“Access to arbitration […] increases the likelihood that investors and host states are able to resolve disagreements and negotiations in a successful and equitable manner.”

Source: http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/download/ttipinvestment.pdf

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EU-US trade negotiations must be transparent

EURACTIV's editorial content is independent from the views of our sponsors.

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