TTIP sucks but what about CETA?
Since 2013 the United States of America and the European Union have been negotiating the TTIP treaty. Activists and non-government organizations identified the TTIP treaty to be a threat to the environment, consumer protection, distribution of wealth, and democratic decision making.
The critic of TTIP comprises the following:
Multinationals will be able to sue national states if there profit is threatened by, for example, environmental protection laws of the particular state.
Multinationals are able to participate in the making of new laws.
The negotiations are clandestine, that means that the public is not informed about what the treaty actually means.
Standards in consumer protection decrease. So far, a company has to verify that whatever product they plan to put on the market, is of no harm to the consumer. If TTIP is agreed on, the respective states have to verify that a product is harmful to the consumer.
TTIP will increase the global inequality in terms of the distribution of wealth, so the treaty is an advantage for the multinationals, and a disadvantage for smaller businesses.
Thus, activists declared war on TTIP, and succeeded in attracting the public attention, which culminated in one of the largest demonstrations in post-war Germany. To cut a long story short, it seemed as if the efforts had come to fruits, since the negotiations are, meanwhile, put to a halt and TTIP has not been verified so far.
However, beyond all public attention, the smaller brother of TTIP CETA was quasi verified in september 2016, and is expected to come into force in 2017.
You may ask yourself what is my point? My point is, that TTIP and CETA, in terms of their consequences o not so much differ from another. CETA entails most of the points mentioned above, and thus is of absolutely no good for the ordinary citizen, for the environment, for democracy, and economic equality.
Alright, CETA is a treaty with Canada, however any multinational company of the US can just find a subsidiary in Canada, and thus benefit from the treaty.
Apart, the role of the media is crucial in terms of TTIP and CETA. Step-by-step, the public understood that TTIP is probably not in its best interest, but nobody spoke of CETA, there was hardly any debate about it. Therefore, while the people were protesting against TTIP, and the negotiations stagnated, CETA was verified with hardly any public attention. Summarized, people discussed and protested against TTIP, and decision-makers discussed and agreed on CETA.
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