Stop TTIP/CETA ECI: We continue our fight!
Stop-TTIP.org | 19.09.2014
WE CONTINUE OUR FIGHT!
Democracy is not granted from above, it is made from below!
The European Commission tried to deny us our democratic right to speak out against TTIP and CETA via a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). Last week, they refused to register our ECI, offering inconsistent explanations (see press release). Democracy is not granted from above, it is made from below! We reject the Commission’s attempt to silence us and will carry out our European Citizens’ Initiative anyway, without approval from Brussels. We are currently preparing an online signature gathering tool as well as paper signature forms and will start collection in early October. At the same time, we will challenge the Commission in court by appealing to the European Court of Justice.
In the past couple of weeks our campaign has gathered support from over 240 civil society organisations in 21 EU member states. It is somewhat ironic that the European Commission, which often complains about the “lack of a European public”, is trying to stop this truly European movement in its tracks. We will continue to speak out against the Commission’s total lack of transparency in the negotiations and favouring of corporate interests over the common good. We will stay very public and very European in our opposition to TTIP and CETA!
The rejection of the ECI is not the first time that the Commission has attempted to silence voices against TTIP and CETA. Firstly, it negotiates the agreements in such secrecy that not even our elected representatives know what is happening. The Commission hopes that if we don’t know what is happening, we can’t criticise it. Unfortunately for them, a number of leaks confirmed our worst fears. The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) led to a public outcry, so much so that the Commission was forced to start a public consultation. The long list of questions posed in the online consultation were formulated in an intentionally complicated way but nevertheless 150,000 people participated. Isn’t this a great manifestation of democracy in action? The Commission didn’t think so. They called it “an attack”. Then we announced the start of an ECI against TTIP and CETA – to the great frustration of the Commission. Millions of citizens speaking out against these traded agreements? What a dire prospect for the Commission and a threat to their plans. So they tried to pull the plug by rejecting the registration of our ECI.
Welcome to Europe’s first ever self-organised ECI
We will carry out our ECI as intended, ignoring the rejection. We have the legitimate right to do so. We as citizens have a matter to bring up with EU institutions, so over the next couple of month, we will carry out a genuine European Citizens’ Initiative, an ‘ECI from the bottom up‘. By standing strong, the citizens of Europe can together stop TTIP and CETA. Join us!
