This in from Daniel on behalf of the Isle of Wight Green Party. Ed
The European Commission and the United States Government have been negotiating a deal called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP.
The Isle of Wight Green Party supports the long-standing campaign against TTIP by our Green Party MEP, Keith Taylor. While other political parties are now waking up to the dangers of this free trade agreement, the Green Party has consistently opposed TTIP since the first details of the secretive talks emerged.
Daniel James, Isle of Wight Green Party spokesperson said,
“At first glance, TTIP doesn’t look all that relevant to the everyday lives of Islanders, but these trade deals could have a real and lasting impact on us. TTIP aims to put big business interests ahead of the democratic institutions we have built over generations.
“Soon, we might not have the protections that Islanders currently take for granted, like a universal public health system, clean drinking water or basic food standards.
“It’s shocking that we heard nothing about TTIP or globalisation from the other parties in the run up to the General Election.”
What is TTIP?
TTIP enables multinational companies to manipulate sovereign governments, undermining national laws on food safety, the environment and health care. The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision in TTIP will allow overseas investors to bring legal proceedings against governments that attempt to regulate commercial activities.
If a government is found to be in breach of its treaty obligations, the investor can receive monetary compensation from taxpayers.
Secret tribunals
Our laws are decisions made by democratically-elected governments in order to protect their citizens and the environment.
Private companies should not have the right to overturn these laws, purely to protect their profits. ISDS complaints are made to secret tribunals, by-passing our national courts and leaving our laws one step closer to being written by corporations.
Legislation could be weakened
The Isle of Wight Green Party is concerned that social and environmental standards in the EU and the US are very different, and that our legislation could be weakened on many issues which are crucial to Islanders, including the role of private companies in the NHS, fracking, genetically modified produce and hormones in meat.
Green Party MEPs have tabled amendments to the TTIP resolution in the European Parliament’s Employment Committee, calling for the explicit exclusion of public services from TTIP.
Oppose TTIP
We urge all Islanders to sign a self-organised European Citizen’s Initiative against TTIP which already has over two million signatures.
The initiative can be signed at the Website which also has more information on the TTIP campaign.
