MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a US-advocated pact that seeks to create the world's biggest free trade zone. However, there are concerns that it will take trade controls away from local governments and hand them over to international corporations.
Wednesday’s debate will focus on a report of recommendations for the European Commission. The vote was to be held during the Parliament's plenary session last June, but the paper was referred back to the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) due to a large number of proposed amendments.
Although parliamentarians are not involved directly in the negotiations with the United States, they have the power to propose changes or veto the final text.
On Sunday, 483 European organizations working in various fields – from environmental protection and public health to consumer rights – called on EU lawmakers in an open letter to stop the TTIP negotiations.
Their appeal was backed by a petition with more than 2.3 million signatures, collected over the preceding eight months, against TTIP and a similar agreement with Canada, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
The group, called collectively Stop TTIP, said they feared that both trade pacts posed a threat to democracy and the rule of law due to the clause that allows corporations to sue governments. Another concern was that the deals risked watering down local regulations due to a lack of transparency in their preparation.
