Cllr Andrew Cooper, lead
Green Party Eurocandidate for Yorkshire & The Humber, has warned that an
American-EU trade treaty poses a major threat to our country. The US-EU
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could be sealed in the
next few days and under cover of the benefits of free trade, it is set to
create an obscure process, known as the investor-state dispute mechanism, which
could strike down the democratic wishes of British citizens.
Andrew Cooper said:
“The Government has
repeatedly promised a referendum on any big changes to the EU, but, TTIP poses
by far the biggest potential threat on the sovereignty of Britain in decades
and it seems ready to just sign our rights away. The treaty is supposed to
harmonise regulations between Europe and the USA, but it will also create the
legal right to rip the heart out of any Government policies or laws which big
businesses decide are not in the interests of their shareholders.”
Many of TTIP’s
provisions are being kept confidential at the moment, but they are known to
include a right for private companies to sue Governments that introduce any
policies that go against their business objectives, especially if they harm
their profits. Under the investor-state dispute mechanism, private investors
will then be able to take legal action against Governments to reverse policies
and claim compensation from taxpayers.
Andrew Cooper continued:
“Look at the current
debate on energy policy and the different choices for Britain's future. Well, a
few years ago, Argentina introduced a range of policies on energy and economics
to rescue the country from a national financial crisis. Because they were
unhappy with these, five international energy companies used a similar treaty
arrangement to TTIP to sue the Argentinian Government, which has just agreed to
pay them $677 millionsto settle their claims. There are similar examples with
plain cigarette packets in Australia and cyanide water pollution from
gold-mining in El Salvador.”
“If the TTIP passes,
companies based anywhere in the world would be able to sue over laws on
environmental protection, renewables commitment, health and so on, whenever EU
rules are tougher than US ones or affect profit. For example, in food,
Yorkshire consumers could be forced to accept hormones in beef cattle and
chicken meat washed in chlorine and our farmers could have to surrender any
freedom to choose about GM crops.”
The US and British
Governments argue that the treaty will create jobs, but there is no evidence
for this – indeed, similar agreements in the past in other countries have led
to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“The Green Party is
raising the alarm – the other parties aren’t,” said Andrew Cooper. “The
costs will dramatically outweigh any benefits. Jobs could be lost here in
Yorkshire as well as elsewhere unless we accept lower and lower standards, and
even potentially dangerous ones, in both consumer and employee protection.”
“Caroline Lucas, Green MP, has tabled an Early
Day Motion in Parliament expressing concern about the investor-state dispute
mechanism – but she has received no support from the Coalition or Labour. Apart from the Greens,
the other parties at Westminster and in Europe seem spellbound by the desire
for free trade at any price, and the price could be high indeed.”
ENDS
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Contact: Andrew Cooper, 01484 667519 | 07721
348619
Green Party Energy Spokesperson; Yorkshire &
Humber lead Euro candidate.
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