The TTIP Leaks

Written on May 9th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on Dissident Voice, by Binoy Kampmark, May 6, 2016.

The monstrous Siamese twin of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement TPP, known as (and also) the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership TTIP, has been in a growing puddle of dispute after 248 pages of its content were leaked.  

The organisation behind the measure, Greenpeace Netherlands, had done its best to shed light on a document that remains obscured, clandestine and hidden. The TTIP leaks were initiated prior to the commencement of the 13th round of TTIP negotiations between the EU and the US held in New York (April 25-29). According to the organisation, the final document will consist of 25 to 30 chapters with extensive annexes … //

… Overwhelming floor room is given to corporate agents who are noted in the negotiations as important partners in the determination of foreign policy. While that position has been clearly articulated by US negotiators, the EU remains coy about industry influence. The strongmen and women of capitalism are never far away. Little wonder, then, that popularity for such an arrangement is as low as 39 per cent in Germany and 50 per cent in France … //

… The leaks sent ripples through various parliaments in Europe. France’s François Hollande decided on Tuesday to make his opposition clear. “We will never accept questioning essential principles for our agriculture, our culture and for the reciprocity of access to public [procurement] markets.” France’s trade secretary, Matthias Fekl, even went so far as to suggest that the agreement, in its current form “would be a bad deal,” one which needed to be suspended. Even prior to the release by Greenpeace, German Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel had suggested that negotiations had moved into a glacial state … //

… To that end, the Commission has attempted to give the impression that pitfalls can, in time, be papered over with the good sense of compromise. As diversely opposed as the parties are, movement, of the negative sort, is possible. Positions can, as was all too evident in the TPPA negotiations, bend. In some cases, they can be abandoned altogether. That remains the greatest danger: the document continues to flicker, and it will take more than Gallic opposition, Germanic scepticism, and general European stubbornness, to sink it.

(full text).

(Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne and can be reached here. Read other articles by Binoy).

Download here the TTIP Leaks on the Greenpeace Holland’s website.

Related Links – Find the TTIP Leaks also:

Links:

There Will Be No Lesser Evil, on Dissidebt Voice, by Jack Balkwill, May 7, 2016;

Hillary Clinton and the End of the Democratic Party, on counterpunch, by ROB URIE, May 6, 2016;

Bill Gross Explains How to Get Paid When Robots Steal Your Job, on The Street, by James Langford, May 5, 2016;

Saudi Arabia plans stock market reforms to draw foreign money, on Daily Times, May 5, 2016;

Widening Pool of Negative-Yielding Debt Squeezing Sovereign Investors – Fitch, on Reuters, May 4, 2016;

Soon we’ll give people money to do nothing, whether Bill Gross likes it or not, on Business Insider UK, by Myles Udland, May 4, 2016;

Suisse: la Gauche rejette la nouvelle loi sur l’asile, dans 24heures.ch, le 4 mai 2016;

Nuit debout: ni un mouvement spontané ni un mouvement d’agités, dans France TV info, par Gaël Brustier, le 3 may 2016;

Does Capitalism Need Saving? – Milken Institute Global Conference 2016, on Equities, by Joel Anderson, May 3, 2016;

La Nuit Debout prend de l’ampleur, dans La Dépêche.fr, le 3 mai 2016;

Would you ride an elevator designed by a banker? on live mint, by Huzaifa Husain, May 3, 2016;

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND May 14: Unfurling of the world’s biggest poster reading ‘What Would You Do if Your Income Were Taken Care of‘, May 3;

Love of Money Leads to Nothing, on patheos, by Henry Karlson, May 2, 2016;

Sovereign risk system needs reforming, on Financial Times, by Patrick Jenkins, May 2, 2016;

La redistribution devrait être beaucoup plus ambitieuse, dans La Croix, par Mathieu Castagnet, le 02 mai 2016;

NGOs, the Pentagon, and the Human Rights – Industrial Complex, 26.30 min, uploaded by corbettreport, May 2, 2016;

EELV dénonce la répression, déplore les violences policières et demande l’abandon du flashball, dans l’Humanité.fr, le 2 mai 2016;

Confronting Injustice: Social Activism in the Age of Individualism, on Socialist Project.ca, April 22, 2016;

Nach der Flucht: Muslimische Frauen in Deutschland zwischen Tradition und Emanzipation – Das Erste, 7.01 min, uploaded by Bayerischer Rundfunk, Feb 16, 2016 … viele der in Deutschland ankommenden Flüchtlinge sind Frauen aus muslimischen Ländern mit ihren Familien. Unsere Reporterinnen haben sich gefragt, wie diese Frauen leben und wie viele Rechte sie haben. Ähnelt ihr bisheriger Lebensentwurf dem unsrigen oder müssen sie sich komplett umstellen? Sind sie voll emanzipiert, oder müssen sie sich ihrem Mann unterordnen?

Comments are closed.