TTIP: European Parliament vote on EU-US 'free trade' deal p

[Oscar]

European Parliament vote on EU-US 'free trade' deal postponed

[ http://canadians.org/blog/european-parl ... -postponed ]

June 10, 2015 - 9:31 am

The European Parliament could not come to an agreement yesterday (Tuesday June 9) on the United States-European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). As a result, a vote that was to take place today to endorse the 'free trade' talks has been postponed until sometime after the summer.

EurActiv reports, "The failure to agree on a resolution meant that the Parliament would merely debate the proposed deal in Strasbourg on Wednesday, but not hold a vote, highlighting the growing doubts in the European Union about its benefits. Negotiations [on TTIP] are still under way but, because the Parliament has the power to reject any final deal, it must set out its position during the process. EU lawmakers preparing the resolution received more than 200 proposed amendments, meaning it was highly unlikely to pass, prompting parliament president Martin Schulz to postpone the vote to avoid the public embarrassment of having the resolution defeated." [ http://www.euractiv.com/sections/trade- ... tip-315265 ]

And Politico notes, "[Some parliamentarians had] trumpeted the recent approval of a fragile compromise in its International Trade Committee as a sign that negotiations could at last move forward. Although Parliament’s approval is not essential at this stage, it is considered vital for the project’s success. Instead, strong opposition from many members of the Socialists & Democrats group and pressure from non-governmental organizations opposed to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership made a broader agreement impossible to achieve before Wednesday’s planned vote." [ http://www.politico.eu/article/breaking ... e-on-ttip/ ]

After European Parliament president Schulz used his authority to postpone the vote, the European Parliament also voted 183-181 to support the postponement.

Green MEP Yannick Jadot, who opposes TTIP, denounced the postponement of the vote as "lousy shenanigans". And European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan commented, "Without guidance from the European Parliament, EU negotiator Cecilia Malmström will be in the dark about what our European elected representatives consider a fair outcome. The Commission now needs to take a step back, stop talks and before continuing, let democracy do its work. Stopping the negotiations now and waiting for the position of the European Parliament is necessary for the credibility of this European Commission which claimed it would set out to close the gap with Europe's citizens."

The EurActiv article also highlights, "Much of the discord focuses on how companies settle disputes under the pact; lawmakers fear that US multinationals will challenge European laws on grounds that they restrict free commerce. ...Critics of the deal also fear it will be detrimental to food safety and the environment."

Deutsche Welle adds, "The Socialist group in the European Parliament insisted on excluding a controversial mechanism for resolving disputes with investors from the trade deal. ...The USA has insisted current arrangements are adequate but European negotiators have proposed a separate investment court. [In addition], a Europe-wide online petition against the TTIP, set up by the 'Self-organised European Citizens' Initiative Against TTIP and CETA' has raised more than 2.1 million signatures. It has claimed that TTIP and the CETA, which is a similar deal with Canada, are a 'threat to democracy, the environment, consumers and labour standards'." [ http://www.dw.de/eu-parliament-postpone ... a-18506334 ]

The Council of Canadians once again calls on the European Parliament to reject the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) given it also contains the controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. We have argued in the report Trading Away Democracy that CETA would increase the risk to the EU and its member states of challenges by Canadian investors in the mining and oil and gas extraction sectors, that Canadian subsidiaries of US-headquartered multinationals would be able to use CETA to sue European governments, and that 'reforms' to the provision proposed by the European Commission would not prevent abuse by investors and arbitrators. [ http://canadians.org/blog/trading-away- ... e-rejected ]

The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade meets on June 15-16 in Brussels. The text of the TTIP resolution that failed in the European Parliament yesterday will be debated next there.

Council of Canadians trade campaigner Sujata Dey will be in Brussels for the next round of TTIP negotiations this coming July 13-15. She will be there for a EU-wide civil society strategy meeting on TTIP and CETA.

For more on our campaign to stop CETA, please click here:
[ http://canadians.org/ceta ] .

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

European Parliament TTIP vote cancelled ‘because of huge public pressure’

[ http://www.eureporter.co/frontpage/2015 ... reen-meps/ ]

EU Reporter Correspondent | June 10, 2015 | 0 Comments

In unusual circumstances, the planned vote on 10 June in the European Parliament on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an EU-US trade deal currently being negotiated, has been postponed. The TTIP resolution was referred back to the committee on the basis of article 175 of the rules of procedure. Today (10 June), the Parliament decided by 183 votes in favour, 181 against, and 37 abstentions to postpone the debate as well on the basis of article 152. Rapporteur Bernd Lange will hold a press conference at 10h30.

The official line from the Parliament is that because more than 200 amendments were tabled the vote should be postponed to enable the Trade Committee to consider the amendments before tabling them for a future plenary session.

The controversial deal seeks to remove standards and protections that are currently enshrined in laws across the EU and US. Examples of these regulations include labour rights that protect people at work, environmental regulations and food safety laws.

Included in the agreement is a clause called the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which many MEPs have warned would allow corporations to sue Governments in secret courts if a government passed laws which limited a corporation’s profits or activity.

More than 2 million EU citizens have signed a petition against the deal.
[ https://stop-ttip.org/ ]

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for South-East England, said: “The decision to cancel the vote on TTIP stinks of political parties in the European Parliament running scared of the huge public opposition to TTIP.

“TTIP represents a monumental power grab by corporations and it must be stopped in its tracks.”

MORE:

[ http://www.eureporter.co/frontpage/2015 ... reen-meps/ ]

[Oscar]

National (European) MPs could block US trade deal, activists say

[ https://euobserver.com/news/129739 ]

By Benjamin Fox BRUSSELS, July 24, 2015

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[ TTIP: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – European Union & USA ]

[ CETA: Comprehensive Employment and Training Act European Union & Canada ]
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[Study confirms Parliamentary Process necessary to approve TTIP & CETA]

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Opponents of an EU-US trade agreement hope that national parliaments will shoot down an accord, and their hopes will have been buoyed by a new study suggesting that a deal will likely need a seal of approval from domestic lawmakers.

A study by the Institute of Law at the University of Cologne, commissioned by the Stop TTIP campaign, and published earlier this week, finds that in all member states except for Malta, a parliamentary approval process would be necessary to sign TTIP, and the provisionally-agreed trade deal with Canada - (known as CETA) - into law.

The study also finds that half of the EU´s 28 parliaments would be able to instigate a referendum on the trade deals if they wished, although there is little precedent for plebiscites to be held to approve free trade deals.

- - - SNIP - - -

Nonetheless, TTIP's passage through the EU assembly is already looking tough. A compromise allowing the parliament´s main groups to endorse the continuation of talks and a future agreement was only secured last month when it included a demand to replace the controversial existing regime on investor protection - known as investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) - with a new EU proposal for a permanent, and public arbitration panel.

A series of national ratification processes, of potentially varying levels of complexity, will add to the obstacles facing TTIP's ratification.