CETA free trade deal to be rejected by Germany; TTIP is in trouble!

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Canada-EU free trade deal to be rejected by Germany, says report

Investor protection clauses at issue

Germany is to reject a multibillion-dollar free trade deal between the European Union and Canada which is widely seen as a template for a bigger agreement with the United States, a leading German paper reported on Saturday.

Citing diplomats in Brussels, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that Berlin objects to clauses outlining the legal protection offered to firms investing in the 28-member bloc. Critics say they could allow investors to stop or reverse laws.

The German government could not sign the agreement with Canada "as it has been negotiated now," the paper reported, quoting German diplomats in Brussels.

It also said that the clauses in the Canada deal were similar to those in the U.S. agreement, which is still under negotiation.

"The free trade treaty with Canada is a test for the agreement with the United States," said one senior official at the Commission in Brussels, according to the paper.

If the deal with Canada is rejected "then the one with the United States is also dead", added the official.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canada-eu-free-trade-deal-to-be-rejected-by-germany-says-report-1.2718981


Germany rejects CETA and TTIP; Council of Canadians applauds Germany's decision

The Council of Canadians applauds Germany's rejection of the Canada-EU and EU-US trade deals reported in Reuters today. The German government decided to reject these trade deals because of provisions that allow companies to sue governments for infringing on their profits.

"This is a victory for democracy. We are pleased that the German government has listened to critics of the investor-state dispute settlement provisions of the deal that give foreign corporations the right to dictate domestic policy," said Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians.

"We've worked to educate European politicians on just how harmful allowing companies to sue you can be," said Scott Harris, trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians. "We've told them about all the lawsuits Canada has faced under NAFTA for legitimate regulations that protect our health and environment."

http://www.canadians.org/media/germany-rejects-ceta-and-ttip-council-canadians-applauds-germanys-decision

Thank you Germany!

[Populist_Prole]

1. Negotiating with the country's citizen's own interests formost: What a concept!

"The German government decided to reject these trade deals because of provisions that allow companies to sue governments for infringing on their profits"

I imagine our own plutocrats hissing and spitting in anger at such impudence. May they all get ulcers as momentum builds against further FTAs

[LoisB]

2. Good for Germany. Now, if only the U.S. would follow suit.

[whathehell]

3. +1000 n/t

[cascadiance]

4. All of these agreements are the PITTs for all of us!

(TTIP in reverse, my way of constructing a more meaningful moniker to describe them the way Thom Hartmann uses "SHAFTA" to describe the TPP)...

[Enthusiast]

5. Fuck globalization!

Totally fuck globalization! Abandon the drive toward globalization.

Historically, one of the USA's greatest advantages lies with our geographical isolation. What did we do? We voluntarily threw this advantage away in the interest of serving the greed of the already wealthy. WTF?

[A Simple Game]

8. There would be nothing wrong with globalization if it was done to give more people

opportunity and protection instead of taking opportunity and protection away from those that already have it.

In other words benefit the 99% instead of the 1%.

[cascadiance]

9. In a world beset by climate change localization is even a better worshipped value...

If it CAN be done locally it SHOULD be done locally, to avoid the costs both materially as well as environmentally of moving products and labor around the globe. We should try to live more in harmony where each of us live rather than all flock to some place in quest for something artificially better because someone's making some set of societal rules that force us to do so.

I have no problem for looking at some things globally, when the costs are minimal and the gain for everyone is large, like a global information commons of the internet, provided we can make the infrastructure not damage our ecosphere too much.

But I would still contend that globalization as a "mantra" for everything should go away. It is invented by the 1% for them to exploit us globally, and use us as "plug in" tools everywhere and facilitate a race to the bottom that they so need to continue to move the world's wealth in to their hands away from us that makes everyone else worse off, and is continuing to move the planet closer to its doom for the current species of life that inhabit it. If some people have problems in certain locations that facilitate the race to the bottom that has them move here for better jobs, or companies locating there to get cheaper labor, we need to organize more globally to correct the living situations in those areas to help them live better locally and closer to their families too. I think in the long run everyone would be better off. That doesn't mean people shouldn't be able to move around if they really want to start a new life somewhere else and someone or a culture somewhere else has a big attraction for them. People need that freedom to be able to move. But they shouldn't feel forced to do so by other circumstances.

[Populist_Prole]

12. Exactly

Why even mention the possible merits of globalization, framed in a perfect world, when it's being practiced and controlled by the PTB?

As long as the one percent have the political hegemony they do then globalization = bad. It's all just abstract wonkishness to think otherwise IMO.

[betterdemsonly]

6. This is an important precedent,

and a victory for the 99%.

[rickyhall]

7. Doncha lovit

Germany is the voice of sanity

[malaise]

10. Great news

Rec

[Teamster Jeff]

11. Didn't help that Germany caught the NSA spying on them.

Maybe they just wanted to piss in Obama's punch bowl.

[TT_Progress]

13. Very good news

[BrotherIvan]

14. Big Rec!

And the US is the one peddling this clusterfuck. My European relatives are constantly pissed because they believed in "change" as well.

[arikara]

15. Yay Germany!

that is wonderful news.

[pampango]

16. Great news! And Germany rejects them for the right reason - the conservative provisions in them.

Germany wants European regulatory, environmental and labor standards to be protected under any agreement with the US. That would be great news if any final agreement did include European standards and forced the US to follow them, too. That is not likely to happen. Germany is doing the right thing by negotiating and by rejecting conservative provisions.