TTIP update!

It’s been a busy few weeks for the TTIP campaign. If you’ve been keeping your eye on this dodgy trade deal, then you’ll know that it’s never out of the news. Yet, we never know the full details!

There’s been a lot of talk that the new EU Commission decide not to include the bit of the deal that allows corporations to sue governments (called ISDS). So, almost 50,000 of us e-mailed the new President-elect Jean Claude Juncker when we knew that they seemed to be wavering. You can still do that here.

But a group of ten countries, including the UK wrote to the EU asking them NOT to remove this bit of the deal.

In the last week, a group of organisations have launched a lawsuit against the European Commission for stifling democratic debate on TTIP. That’s because the EU have refused to accept a formal petition called a “European Citizen’s Intiative” (ECI). An ECI is the name of the official petition that can trigger a debate in the EU . It has to be signed by people from a certain amount of EU countries, and have one million signatures. Instead 38 Degrees members, alongside thousands of people across Europe, have been signing a self-organised version. We’ve got over 900,000 signatures now – amazing!

The Labour Party appear to be flip flopping a little bit on their support for ISDS. You can read more about this from Nick Dearden from World Development Movement here.

Meanwhile, 38 Degrees members up and down the country have been organising meetings with their MPs about TTIP. That includes a group of us in London, a meeting in Wales – and a huge meeting in Bristol with all of the city’s MPs.

Next week Executive Director of 38 Degrees, David Babbs, will give evidence to the committee who scrutinise the department  in charge of TTIP. He’ll take the thoughts of thousands of 38 Degrees members along with him.