The biggest free trade area on the planet
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Rebelión | 13-2-14
Free translated by Anoosha Boralessa in March 2015; not reviewed or revised by bilaterals.org or any other organization or person.
The biggest free trade area on the planet
Luis Rico and Tom Kucharz
La Marea
The agreement lacks a Spanish translation that is agreed upon. It is known by its Anglo-Saxon acronym, TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), although it was also known as TAFTA (Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement) or the EU-US FTA (Free Trade Agreement).
Over and above the name and initials that people want to give it, the facts are that from June 2013 the European Union and the United States have been negotiating a Trade and Investment Treaty. Growth and job creation are two of the“official reasons” for pursuing this agreement. But European Commission studies demonstrate that its impact on employment will be very small and that some sectors will require extensive restructuring. Such a sector is agriculture, especially for small farms and breeders. Furthermore, revenues in industries such as electronic machinery, transport equipment and metallurgy, as well as sectors of timber products and paper, business services and communication would decrease. This would lead to job losses.
If there is no strong case for job creation, the impetus for this treaty can be found in arguments less publicized but still recognized by the European Commission: the establishment of the “biggest Free Trade Area in the planet” to offset the BRICs displacing the EU and the US as the major economies, exporters and providers of foreign direct investment. Thus the fundamental purpose of this treaty is to maintain the hegemonic position of Atlantic powers, all on the basis of a new neoliberal twist.
Given that the custom barriers between these two economic powers are not of great significance, key points in the negotiation are privitization and dismantling – even further if necessary - employment, environmental and social protection regulation. The principal pressure groups of multinationals on both sides of the Atlantic are taking timely action by penning their wish list to the EU and US trade representatives: “eliminate the European precautionary principle, lower employment standards or strengthen anti-piracy laws” are some of the requests these groups are making. This is somewhat concerning when they have monopolized more than 90% of the meetings that the European Commission has held with interested parties from the Civil Society on the Agreement.
According to how the negotiations are evolving, (we are already in the third round), the Treaty will affect a huge number of sectors that impact the day-to-day living of Europeans and Americans: agriculture, public services, labour rights, energy, sanitation, financial regulation, the environment, culture and intellectual property, etc. To this list let’s add the controversial chapter on “investment protection, previously mentioned. This chapter will make it difficult in the future to undo what the neoliberal policies purport to support and what we are already experiencing with the structural adjustment policies set by the Troika.
In light of the above, less alarming is the media silence that surrounds this agreement and the little response it has generated. If there is any possibility of stopping or at least influencing the negotiations, this will occur through conscience raising throughout society organized at the European level. Highly active platforms have been formed against the TTIP in Germany and France. In Madrid, Spain, on Saturday 15 February, a training and reflection day was organized to counter this new, neoliberal attack. The objective of this open day is to comprehensively understand the contents of this Transatlantic Treaty (TTIP) and to agree a common plan, with a multi-pronged strategy to attack it.
Luis Rico is the coordinator of Project on Treaties and Investments of Ecologistas en Acción
Tom Kucharz is the Co-cordinator of the Agroecology Section of Ecologistas en Acción
