Maltese NGOs condemn secrecy of EU-US trade agreement

The Front Against TTIP have called on policy makers in government and the private sector to ensure transparency in the proposed free-trade agreement between the EU and the United States (TTIP).

“We call upon policy makers to unite to secure the interests of the local economy, which is based almost exclusively on the productivity of small and medium enterprises,” the Front said in a statement. “No stone should be left unturned to ensure that the fundamental principles of governance, transparency and environmental and social regulations upon which so much of the EU is built, are secured and maintained.”

The Front forms part of an alliance of over 400 civil society organisations that have called on the European Commission to recommend to the EU Council of Ministers to repeal the EU’s negotiating mandate for TTIP and to halt CETA – a free trade proposal between the EU and Canada.

“We refuse to accept that rules with far-reaching consequences for more than 500 million citizens in Europe are made behind closed doors,” the Front said. “This is unacceptable and in blatant breach of fundamental European principles. TTIP and CETA primarily serve the interests of large multinational corporations at the huge expense of consumer protection, social standards, environmental regulations and food safety.

“They also threaten the fabric of SME's, by creating an unlevel playing field in the commercial sector which is weighted heavily in favour of multinational corporations.”

The President of the Employers’ Group within the European Economic and Social Committee recently visited Malta to dispel fears that TTIP will only benefit multinationals.

“Small and medium businesses will benefit from the elimination of tariffs and trade barriers between the EU and the US,” Jacek Krawczyk said. “Nor is it true that the deal will lower Europe’s workers’ rights standards.”

Economy Minister Chris Cardona has voiced support for TTIP, but has called for its details to become more transparent so as to “demystify” the deal.

‘A very serious threat to democracy’

A major bone of contention on the TTIP deal is its proposal to set up an investment-to-state-dispute-mechanism (ISDS) that will allow multinational corporations to settle disputes with governments through international arbitration rather than through national courts.”

Krawczyk insisted that an ISDS had to be set up within the TTIP to allow businesses to settle disputes.

However, the Front has described it as a “very serious threat to democracy”.

“It would make multinationals more powerful than the governments of sovereign states,” the Front said. “It would allow them to enforce changes in environmental and social legislation, and even to sue governments for hundreds of millions of Euros in damages on claims that such legislation may have affected the company's potential for profits. Such a treaty would not only put multinational corporate profits over people and SME's, but also over their democratically elected governments.

Social Europe - Front Against TTIP (Malta) consists of the NGO's Żminijietna - Voice of the Left; Anti-Poverty Alliance; Moviment Graffitti; Association of Federative Socialists; GWU Youth, Friends of the Earth Malta; Partit Komunista Malti; Garden of Knowledge (Malta); ADZ - Green Youth; Malta Organic Agricuture Movement; Greenhouse; Gaia Foundation; Alternattiva Demokratika -The Green Party