The EC admitted that the Transatlantic Agreement did not generate enthusiasm –

/ world today news/ Even the EC recently admitted that the Transatlantic Agreement does not generate transatlantic enthusiasm among the citizens of the European Union.

Under public pressure in the spring of 2014. The European Commission held a discussion on part of the Transatlantic Agreement between the US and the EU – the Investor Protection Mechanism (ISDS). The survey received an unprecedented response – 150,000 comments from citizens, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, business, consulting firms, government institutions, regulators and academics were sent to Brussels. 176 of them are from Bulgaria.

The questions asked were technocratic, with a heavy Brussels accent. For example: “Given the above explanation and the cited reference text, what is your opinion on the objectives and approach regarding the scope of the substantive investment protection provisions of the TPTI?”

Could the European officials have written it even more incomprehensible? To make it easier for citizens, the “Solidary Bulgaria” association prepared answers that anyone could send to the EC. Several other European non-governmental organizations have used the same approach.

A major flaw in the discussion is the fact that the EC assumes initially that supranational arbitrations are acceptable and only minor adjustments to the mechanism are needed. Respondents refused to play this game. A huge number of them have stated that they strongly do not accept ISDS or are against the Transatlantic Agreement in general.

The results of the data analysis, published 2 days ago, show that Europeans strongly reject the clause, which provides for corporations to sue countries in supranational tribunals. They believe that ISDS will destroy the welfare state, lead to the privatization of public services. The most active resistance comes from the citizens of Great Britain, who fear that their national health service will be destroyed in this way. For the majority of respondents, the investor protection mechanism is a threat to democracy, state budgets and national policies in general.

Responding citizens also commented on the impact of the agreement in other areas of public policy – ​​the most common being the protection of labor wages and standards, as well as food safety standards. Concerns have been raised that the increasing power of corporations will undermine public policy in these areas. A significant proportion of respondents expressed concern about unfair competition as a result of reduced consumer protection.

The questioned citizens note that formulations such as “indirect expropriation”, “discrimination”, “fair and equal treatment” of investors are too vague and allow for wide interpretations by commercial tribunals. Another critical point of the mechanism is the non-transparency of the cases – they are conducted behind closed doors, the reasons for making one or another decision are often not published, sometimes even the decisions are not made public. In tribunals, decisions are made by three arbitrators – highly experienced, highly paid corporate lawyers.

An example of such a case is the already concluded trial against Romania. The lawsuit was filed by the Mikula brothers. Their bottling company, registered in Sweden, has received government subsidies for many years. With the entry of Romania into the European Union, subsidies have been reduced drastically. This is also the occasion for Mikula to sue the state before the commercial tribunal in Washington. The solution – our northern neighbor must pay 250 million. private company dollars. At the same time, the payments are prohibited by the EC as inadmissible state aid. The choice before Romania is to pay the Mikula brothers and be sanctioned for this by the EC, or not to comply with the decision of the international court, but to have its state property, which is located in the USA, confiscated.

The investor protection mechanism means only one thing – citizens will be harmed by hundreds of millions. Decisions will be left in the hands of three lawyers. States will be deprived of the right to regulate and pass laws that affect corporate interests. Even business organizations to which the EC promises huge new markets are skeptical of this mechanism. Only big business is expected to support the ability to sue countries over new laws and regulations.

This discussion is not the only opportunity for citizens to express their position against the investor protection mechanism. The self-organized European Citizens’ Initiative, which consists of 340 organizations, continues to gather support. In three months, over 1,260,000 Europeans have signed the demand to end the TTIP negotiations. Bulgarian citizens can join the initiative with signatures at the familiar address: as new pan-European protests are coming. The battle will not be easy for sure.

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The analysis is by experts of the association “Solidary Bulgaria”