TTIP and CETA are much more than trade agreements.  TTIP is about the way our economies are governed, and the standards, criteria and rules that people in the EU, in the US and globally, live by.  Both agreements have a direct impact on what food we get on our table, what services can be provided by our municipalities, what risk we face as consumers. The CETA agreement is already fully negotiated and will soon be presented to Council. It is intended to pave the way for TTIP. It includes a mechanism (ICS) giving investors a tool to sue governments for any new legislation that could reduce their profit expectations. In Council, the governments of the Member States of the European Union have to decide whether they authorize the signature to the agreement. They have to decide whether the parliaments in the Member States will also be allowed to vote on CETA, or whether institutions in Brussels will decide alone. They have to decide whether the agreement shall provisionally enter into force after ratification by the European Parliament.

We, the chairpersons of the member parties of the European Left Party call on every government represented in Council to vote against the signature of CETA. Do not surrender public interest to investors’ interests. And if you do not have the courage to refuse the signature, than we call on you to overturn if necessary the proposal of the EU Commission in order to ensure a democratic ratification procedure in every Member State of our European Union and in the European Parliament. And we call on you to oppose any provisional application before these democratic decisions have been made.

Millions of people, in Europe and the United States, have been on the street to actively protest against TTIP. The Party of the European Left (EL) and its member parties have been an active force to foster and strengthen the protests.

We urge the EU-Commission to listen to the European citizens. European Trade Policy needs a completely new orientation. We need to appreciate the value of local and regional production and exchange. Internationally, we need to work towards environmental and social sustainability of global value chains and trade. We call for truly modern agreements promoting fair trade and decent work, preventing social and ecological dumping. These agreements should be debated openly and publicly because any agreement negotiated behind the backs of citizens but in close cooperation with transnational corporations is an affront to democracy.

The EU-Commission should stop the whole negotiation process, as it is high time to return to fair and transparent multilateral trading structures. International trade negotiators should not be trading on matters that are vital to quality of life, sustainable development and democracy in the EU, in the US and in all other regions of the world – in particular in the era of global value chains.  

The Chairpersons of the European Left

Paris, July 1, 2016