The worrying secrecy surrounding TTIP must not be repeated . . .
I think this article spells out as well as an why secret trade negotiations are disturbing. As the aphorism goes, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.
Barry Gardiner: We are principled free traders – but the worrying secrecy surrounding TTIP must not be repeated
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So I was both confused and amused to learn that if I wanted to examine the current text of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement I would have to be escorted, by appointment, into a locked basement room in Victoria Street and would be granted access to the text only after signing a special confidentiality clause.
“Access was a privilege” I was told – not a right as I had naively supposed!
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So what did I find when I finally probed into the massive ring-binder and all of its annexes? Well of course I can’t tell you that for fear of disciplinary and/or legal proceedings!
What I can tell you is what I did not find.
I did not find anything that reassured me that the US is committed to implementing the International Labour Organisation (ILO) declarations and conventions or developing a common platform in terms of labour standards or occupational health and safety practices within TTIP.
I did not find anything that convinced me that the US would respect the environmental protections and standards we have incorporated into EU law or the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing.
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I did not find anything that reassured me that sovereign governments would not be subjected to supra-national commercial courts with an asymmetric power for large companies to sue nation states for passing legislation in the public interest, where those laws might damage their future profit.
More at link: http://labourlist.org/2017/01/barry-gardiner-the-worrying-lessons-from-ttip-must-be-remember-for-all-future-trade-agreements/
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Thanks. 
