June 12, 2015

No chlorine-chicken for Europe?

editor:	Ama Lorenz

The European Parliament has postponed the debate and the votes on “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership”(TTIP) that were supposed to take place on 10th of June. Being a crucial topic, the postponement has generated a blame game between the political protagonists.

Some say, it will make us rich. It will cost us the democracy, others say. Never was an international treaty so controversial. But why do people fight on both sides of the Atlantic against the TTIP?

In July 2013 the EU and the US started their negotiations about what is supposed to become the largest free trade zone in the world. Both governments emphasized the positive effects, which the TTIP will have, especially in terms of the economic growth. The European Commission released a study in March 2013 that showed: one percentage point economic growth, millions of new jobs and an added value per family up to 545 Euro per year. Sounds good? Well, not only this study has a hitch somewhere. It’s estimates were not based on an independent survey and as always - economic growth does not come without side-effects. Not only the “chlorine-chicken” became a synonym for the legal discrepancies of both countries, including environmental standards, consumer protection or social rights. What the opponents of the TTIP - like Global Justice Now, War on Want, Friends of the Earth or 38 degrees - also drives on the barricades is the fact that a relatively small welfare gain for two countries is based on the expense of Africa, Asia, Central and South America.

This strong resistance of their population seems to unsettle the politicians in the European parliament. What was planned as an agreement behind closed EP’s doors became suddenly an open, global discussion with possible side-effects for the politicians. It becomes apparent again: What one tastes, the other doesn’t like to swallow. That counts also for chicken.

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Read the full Story on fairplanet: Europe for sale