The European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, is Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) focused! Promises of transparency, accessibility, information sharing were made and it seems that she is attempting to do all that while keeping the TTIP road show on track. Check out the new updated EC TTIP pages: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1230. Addressing the concerns raised by the TTIP anti’s, Malmstrom declares, “The EU and US reiterate that trade agreements don’t stop governments from providing or supporting services in areas like water, education, health, and social services…”, then goes onto “EC publishes TTIP legal texts as part of transparency initiative” and of course for Germany, the EC published the results of consultation on investment protection, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Hot from the press, we have Cecilia getting personal, sharing her brand new brochure with us, all about “the false claims being made about TTIP – and what the reality actually is”. Check it out, it is a good read.
To keep up with the competition, see below, in deploying social media there is a new EC video “Benefits of TTIP”. It is only 57 seconds long, great content, well presented and with a friendly educated female voiceover that is convincing, if you are interested in TTIP it is worth a watch. Interestingly as I was getting to the end, say 52 seconds in, my YouTube seemed to hijacked by http://rawwscoop.com/2014/07/10/what-is-ttip-tafta-another-secret-trade-agreement-video/, an interesting bit of deep web, the video did initially catch my attention. But as the presentation droned on, some 49 minutes 38 seconds of it, setting out to prove that TTIP is in fact a corporate coup that will take us to a ‘corporatocracy’, a corporate-run world, I confess to getting bored. I went back to my EU Insider. Do try the link, I would like you view.
The big picture TTIP debate that goes on and on and on… is in many ways falling along traditional European political and country lines, of pro and anti-trade and the US. It is a case of the usual suspects, where in the north of Europe we have the stalwarts of pro-trade and pro-US, led by the UK, Ireland, the Scandi’s and the Netherlands all pushing hard for a deal. However, look to the south of the continent and we have the Italians, the Spanish, not forgetting our friends the Greeks, in an “anti TTIP” camp. Notably, they all look to France for leadership. But will they find it? Hmmm, possibly not as at this time to say that the French Presidency is weakened and troubled, is a mild understatement. And, of course, both sides are watching the big heavy weight in the EU TTIP story, Germany, Europe’s economic and political powerhouse. Germany’s role and position is and will be pivotal.
Another noted divide is between the traditional stakeholders, parties to the negotiations and those not so intimately invited. The latter represent the newer anti-TTIP groupings across Europe, and they dominate social media, the online blogs, discussions and news. Interestingly, is it an age divide of the content providers, as the new anti’s are all over the social media forums? I read that, “90 per cent of anti-TTIP online media penetration happens on Facebook and Twitter”. On the fringes there are many organisations with new online portals, an example is “Raising Awareness World Wide” (RAWW), providers of that video that jumped on my screen. RAWW state that their mission is “to bring attention to important world issues without mainstream media spin to allow YOU to form your own opinions”. I like and get that. They go on to declare that they are there to, “raise awareness to the worlds issues free from mainstream media spin. We are merely a conduit for which to find the resources to aide in the process” and that they “feel that everyone should have the freedom to do whatever they wish as long as it does not impede the freedoms of anyone else”. So far, so very interesting, but I feel they impede my freedom when my screen RAWW’d at me…
If you want to be up to speed on EU TTIP over the next exciting months of negotiation and finalisation, watch i) the European north/south divide, ii) Germany and iii) social media and online news!
