Monday, a new week of negotiations on the Transatlantic Partnership (TTIP) will open in Miami, which is not to the taste of some opponents denouncing the "race to the bottom" of European standards.
This is the case of Nick Dearden, director of the NGO Global Justice Now, which fights for social justice. According to him, even before any signature of the treaty, the multinationals US would profit from the negotiations to push the European Union to agree to import goods for the moment prohibited, like certain GMOs.
Prospect of #TTIP already undermining EU food standards, say campaigners - Our story in the Observer today
http://t.co/R2O9bbC074#noTTIP- Global Justice Now (@GlobalJusticeUK) October 18, 2015
Quoting an article in the economics daily Washington Trade Daily, the activist says that Damien Levie, one of the European negotiators of the treaty, let slip that "the negotiations on the TTIP helped to accelerate the entry of GMOs and carcasses of beef treated with chemicals on the European market. ' Daerden even claims that "five new products" genetically modified have already been approved.
Multinationals are already importing banned foods including #GMO into the #EU ahead of #TTIPhttp: //t.co/7tgPfOrnetpic.twitter.com/l9gob1jTmA— Ian56 (@ Ian56789) October 18, 2015
A spokesperson for the European Commission spoke on the charges, dismissing them altogether. He asserts in particular that the authorization of the beef carcasses dates from 2013 and that “this question has no relation to the negotiations in progress. Our position is not to lower our standards in the context of TTIP or any other commercial negotiation, ”he said.
But the director of Global Justice Now remains convinced that the harmonization of legislation between the United States and the European Union will necessarily, for the latter, go through a "race to the bottom". Deploring the measures already taken with regard to food security, he concludes: "just imagine when the TTIP will really come into force".
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) project aims to set up a free trade area between European states and the USA, thus involving some 800 million inhabitants. The agreement is controversial in Europe where three million people have already signed a petition against it. Last weekend in Berlin, 250 people demonstrated to demand a halt to negotiations.
http://t.co/4B4e7jyFkF Anti-TTIP demonstration in Berlin attracts hundreds of thousands - once again no BBC coverage # StopTTIP # BBCBias— Anti-Austerity UK (@AntiAusterityUK) October 10, 2015
