Leaked text shows the objective of the US is to undermine EU environment and health protection laws in pursuits of trade. Greenpeace Netherlands has obtained 248 pages of leaked Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiating texts which will be published in full today.
The documents unveil for the first time the US position and "its deliberate attempts to change the EU democratic legislative process" caims Greenpeace.
The classified documents represent more than two-thirds of the overall TTIP text as of April, at the 13th round of TTIP negotiations in New York. They cover 13 chapters addressing issues ranging from telecommunications to regulatory cooperation, from pesticides, food and agriculture to trade barriers.
Jorgo Riss, director of Greenpeace EU, said:
“These leaked documents confirm what we have been saying for a long time: TTIP would put corporations at the centre of policy-making, to the detriment of environment and public health. We have known that the EU position was bad, now we see the US position is even worse. A compromise between the two would be unacceptable.”
Greenpeace identified the main issues of concern:
- Long standing environmental protection is dropped
- The “General Exceptions” rule, enshrined in the GATT agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is absent from the text. This nearly 70-year-old rule allows nations to restrict trade “to protect human, animal and plant life or health", or for "the conservation of exhaustible natural resources".
- No place for climate protection in TTIP
- If the goals of the Paris Summit to keep temperatures increase under 1.5 degrees are to be met, trade should not be excluded from CO2 emissions reduction specifications. But nothing about climate protection can be found in the obtained texts.
- Precautionary principle is forgotten
- The US wants the EU to replace the EU’s hazard approach with ‘risk management’, disregarding the precautionary principle, which is enshrined in the EU Treaty but is never mentioned in the consolidated text.
- Open door for corporate lobbying
The leaked documents suggest that both parties consider giving corporations much wider access and participation in decision making.
Jorgo Riss said: “The effects of TTIP would be initially subtle but ultimately devastating. It would lead to European laws being judged on their consequences for trade and investment – disregarding environmental protection and public health concerns.”
The leak has caused outrage in the European Parliament as the chief negotiator reacted to the disclosure of the secret documents, promising a thorough investigation.
Negotiations on the Transatlantic Partnership on Trade and Investment (TTIP) have been carried out under a cloak of secrecy, largely due to demands from the United States.
The US also imposed strict access controls to the documentation with an agreement eventually that MEPs could read the documentation in a "consultation room" in the European Parliament with a mobile phone ban to ensure that no copies would be made.
The US bullying has rebounded with the leaked papers showing their tactics and a complicit EU negotiation team caught with their non-democratic trousers around their ankles.
US Trade Commissioner Michael Froman tried to play down the leak but failed, saying that the documents, "at best, seem misleading, and at worst, appear to be completely false."
Froman then denied that the negotiations included discussions on the loosening of control mechanisms for consumer protection, public health or the environment despite the leaked documents showing the oppositie is true.
The Green Party’s Sven Giegold commented that "it is no longer possible to keep complex negotiations secret from so many people." adding, "the lack of transparency in international negotiations is a remnant of sovereignist thinking."
A Social Democratic expert on international trade commented, "The matter is completely paralysed, I can not conceive of the negotiations ending in a positive way and certainly not before the end of Obama's mandate " so for now, the trade talks,"will be frozen. "
