Global trade deal threatens Paris climate goals, leaked documents show | The Guardian |
A far-reaching global trade deal being negotiated in secret could threaten the goals of the Paris climate deal by making it harder for governments to favour clean energy over fossil fuels, a leak of the latest negotiating text shows.
The controversial Trade in Services Agreement (Tisa) aims to liberalise trade between the EU and 22 countries across the global services sector, which employs tens of millions in Europe alone.
But a new EU text seen by the Guardian would oblige signatories to work towards “energy neutrality” between renewable energy and fossil fuel power, although amendments proposed by the EU would exempt nuclear power from this rule.
The document, marked “limited distribution – for Tisa participants only”, would also force member states to legislate against “anti-competitive conduct” and “market distortions” in energy-related services. This is viewed by campaigners as code for state support for clean power sectors, such as wind and solar.
A right to regulate is explicitly mentioned in the paper, but governments would first have to prove the necessity for regulations that legally constrain multinationals.
‘TTIP threatens our way of life,’ say Berlin protesters | Deutsche Welle |
Rarely has an issue caused such outrage: Protesters have turned out across Germany to demonstrate against the TTIP and CETA trade deals with the US and Canada. They say they won’t stop until both are scrapped.
Growing opposition
Opposition to the two trade deals has been growing steadily in Germany. A poll conducted in May 2016 by the public broadcaster ARD showed that 70 percent of Germans thought TTIP – the proposed deal between Europe and the US – would bring “more disadvantages” than advantages. That figure was up from 55 percent in June of the previous year.
The Berlin demonstration testified to the strength and breadth of the opposition. The 29-year-old ecology student Stefan Meurer from Potsdam said he rarely went to demonstrations. However, he was so outraged at the prospect of TTIP and CETA being approved and coming into force in Germany that he had decided to attend the Berlin rally.
“I am not against free trade,” he said. “But in this form it would undermine our democracy and our standards.”
As with many of the protesters on Saturday, one of his fears was that standards for food and other products such as medicines would be dropped if TTIP became law.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel wins key CETA confidence vote
