TTIP puts profits above environmental protection

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) gives way to profits at the expense of the protection of consumers and the environment, stated Greenpeace Slovakia on Monday, referring to leaked documents outlining a TTIP deal in the making between the United States and the European Union (EU).

"These documents show that both U.S. and EU citizens will have to succumb to corporate profits. It's time for the negotiations to stop and to start anew in a transparent manner. We mustn't perceive environmental protection as a hurdle to trade and business, but as a guarantee of our health and the health of future generations," stressed Katarina Nikodemova from Greenpeace Slovakia.

According to Greenpeace Slovakia spokesperson Miroslava Abelova, the long-term mechanisms for environmental protection would be dismissed.

As it stands, under the deal, multinational companies could be exempted from national and international climate treaties, lowering environmental trade standards, the spokesperson said.

"No TTIP chapter that we've seen refers to the general rule on granting exemptions. This almost 70-year-old rule allows nations to regulate commerce to the benefit of the protection of the health of people, animals and a planet with exhaustible natural resources," noted Abelova.

An even more difficult issue for the TTIP to tackle will be climate protection. Greenpeace pointed to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which stresses the need to keep temperature increases under 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"The business sector shouldn't be left out of efforts to protect the climate, but there is no mention of climate change in the TTIP articles," added Abelova.

Source: XINHUA