EU member states and the European Parliament will be “sidelined” in favor of big business and U.S. interests should the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) go through, according to a leaked document revealed Friday.
The leak, of the corporate-friendly trade deal‘s draft chapter on “regulatory cooperation” between the EU and U.S., was made public by The Independent and Brussels-based campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).
It exposes “a labyrinth of procedures that could tie up any EU proposals that go against U.S. interests,” asThe Independent put it, as well as “the extent to which major corporations and industry groups will be able to influence the development of regulatory cooperation.”
As Kenneth Haar, researcher for CEO, explained:
Lengthy procedures, including vetting by business for possible economic impacts, are thus envisaged for new regulations. Such measures have already been used informally to weaken EU ambition on financial sector supervision in the years leading up to the 2008 collapse, to offer a free pass to US companies on personal data protection, and to delay or water down EU proposals on animal testing and aviation emissions.