Labour MEPs Align With Tory MEPs ‘Betraying The European People’ In TTIP Vote

Over 1.94 million people from across Europe have signed the European Citizens’ Initiative against TTIP and CETA, including more than a quarter of a million from the UK. Numerous organisations, Charities and Trade Unions, including the CWU; also oppose the TTIP in its present form.

Indeed, The Trades Union Congress meeting in Liverpool in September 2014 took the decisive step of ‘outright opposition to the EU-US Trade Deal, known as TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) and the Canadian – EU deal known as CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement).

Despite the opposition in the UK, on the 28th May 2015, politicians in Europe failed to scrap one of the worst parts of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - the part that would let corporations sue our government in secret courts based in Washington, USA., known as the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), by voting with the Tory and Liberals for a resolution that fails to excludes the ISDS from the final TTIP agreement.

The final vote was 28:13

MEPs from the left group (GUE/NGL) and from the Greens voted against, and tabled amendments demanding to oppose ISDS.

The UK Labour MEPs (as part of the S&D group in Europe) who betrayed UK citizens opposition to the TTIP and ISDS, did a deal with the liberal and conservative members on the committee and voted to accept the compromise document.

This meant that the resolution on TTIP still has a form of ISDS in the deal. The right for corporations to sue the government has not been voted out yet!

The UK MEPs concerned were:

David Martin, Labour MEP for Scotland

Jude Kirton-Darling, Labour MEP for the North East of England

David Campbell Bannerman, Conservative MEP for East of England - who didn't even bother turning up!

Emma McClarkin, Conservative MEP for East Midlands

One other UK MEP who had a vote, William Dartmouth (UKIP MEP for South West) did listen to his constituents and voted against TTIP.

Both Labour MEPs, David Martin and Jude Kirton-Darling pledged to vote against ISDS in TTIP (the part that lets corporations sue governments), and then appeared to remove their amendment at the last minute!

There have been a slew of publicised ISDS cases highlighting how corporations have sued states for laws protecting public health and the environment, among others. Germany is the latest casualty as a Swedish nuclear power energy company is sewing them for billions of Euros because of their halting of all nuclear power in favour of alternative sources of energy such as wind power; following the Japanese nuclear power plant disaster.

Trade Deals Explained

 

ISDS was removed from TTIP negotiations in January 2014. The European Commission later were forced to conducted a public consultation which received a record 150,000 responses, over 97% of which were against ISDS.

However, War on Want, in a press release claims that the voice of the European people was ignored when members of the European Parliament’s trade committee agreed a resolution backing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for the full European Parliament to vote on the compromise text at its next plenary in Strasbourg during the week of 8th  June.

The vote flies in the face of European public opinion, with almost two million people signing a European Citizens’ Initiative opposing the secretive EU-US trade deal.

War on Want Executive Director John Hilary said:

“Millions of people across Europe have said no to TTIP, in the strongest trade campaign we have ever seen. Yet MEPs have turned their backs on their own constituents, choosing instead to side with the business lobbyists of Brussels. This is an outright betrayal of the European people, and we shall not forget it.”

MEPs also backed the European Commission's controversial proposal for an ‘investor-state dispute settlement’ (ISDS) system, which grants privileged powers to foreign corporations.

The text presented by committee chairperson Bernd Lange at the eleventh hour dropped a key phrase rejecting the use of ISDS, and supported instead the new proposals for ISDS in TTIP introduced by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström earlier this month.

Lange was publicly criticised by other MEPs for the procedure adopted in pushing through his support for ISDS.

Jude Kirton-Darling, Labour MEP for the North East of England supported Bernd Lange’s text and claims that doing so does not go against her position on TTIP. As for the ISDS aspect she claims that simply because the amended text which she supported does not mention ISDS at all, it means no ISDS in the TTIP!

Those opposing the ISDS element within the TTIP may well believe this to be a naive position at best and fool hardy at worst simply because the so-called ‘compromise text’; does not in any way shape or form stop the ISDS element from being brought back into the deal, or 'assumed' as having been accepted. In reality it acually means that the ISDS is firmly still within the TTIP!

In a press release issued by UK's 38 Degrees, they confirm that the ISDS is safe and well within the TTIP as a result of this action:

"The resolution also contained an edited version of what’s called the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism: the dangerous part of the deal that could see corporations suing the government."

Here it is: "....to ensure the applicability of international agreements, to bring an end to the unequal treatment of European investors in the US on account of existing agreements of Member States; to ensure that foreign investors are treated in a non-discriminatory fashion and have a fair opportunity to seek and achieve redress of grievances while benefiting from no greater rights than domestic investors:”

Indeed, the fact that any opposition to ISDS was removed from the final agreed document written by the EU's International Trade Committee, signals a green light to all those supporting the idea of big business being able to sue Governments for loss of profits, both now and also future profits!

However, Jude Kirton-Darling's claim remains that: “In fact, it's very much a step in the right direction as it does not mention ISDS, while it says that we should trust national courts in TTIP. To me this means no ISDS in TTIP.”

She continues this theme saying:

“I have made my position on ISDS clear time and again. I believe that while we may include investment protection rules in trade deals, such as TTIP, I don't believe that these rules should be enforced through special private tribunals in which multinationals can secretly sue governments. I have defended the use of national courts in TTIP, and I'm sympathetic to the idea of creating an international tribunal in the medium or long run so that all countries would have access to the same system, as long as this tribunal is not based on arbitral justice. Therefore, I have made it very clear that I will vote against TTIP in the end if it contains ISDS.”

You can read her full explanation here

In reality, the European Parliament drafted its first position on the TTIP some 18 months ago.

At the time MEPs supported launching the talks and drew several red lines, such as excluding audiovisual services. However, the MEPs who were elected last year would like to review the progress so far.

Negotiations are ongoing, so there is no final text yet. However, some MEPs have been pushing for transparency from the start. As a result the Commission was forced to publish the EU's negotiating positions and MEPs have access to sensitive information in a secure reading room.

The Commission negotiates on behalf of the EU, guided by the member states, while the final deal must be approved by the EP and the Council. Without this approval, the agreement cannot enter into force. This is why MEPs are following the talks very closely.

The EU is currently involved in negotiations over another far-reaching trade agreement with Canada called CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) as well as the  better known TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) with the USA.

The official line is that these free trade agreements will create jobs and increase economic growth. However, the beneficiaries of these agreements will be big corporations, not citizens:

* Investor-State-Dispute Settlement (ISDS): Canadian and US companies would have the right to sue for damages if they believe that they have suffered losses because of government decisions (for instance new laws to protect the environment or consumer rights).

* Improving or even maintaining our standards for food, labour rights, environmental protection and consumer rights will become much harder.

*Liberalisation and privatisation would effectively become irreversible.

*The EU and its member states would come under pressure to allow risky technologies such as fracking or genetic modification.

You can send a pre-filled and amendable email direct to your local MEP expressing your opposition to the TTIP and ISDS here

You can see the final roll call for the votes in the Trade Committee – both on the TTIP resolution as a whole, and the watered-down version of ISDS – on the European Parliament website here You can see the texts of the resolution here

For the view of the events from The Greens MEP's perspective, read this

UKIP's MEP who voted against the amendment, slams Labour for not protecting the NHS here

For a detailed analyses as to why the TTIP is seen as “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.”, read this article from the Independent October 2014

See also Dave Joyce, CWU National Health, Safety & Environment Officer letter to MEPs regarding their 10th June vote here

Source: War on Want / EU Parliament News / North East Labour website / 38 Degrees / Unionsafety /Flickr / The Greens

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