That's what shoving down the throat looks like

[ddstory]

https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/ttip-obama-merkel-101.html

Merkel and Obama are trying hard to push TTIP through, the article basically says.

Rough translation of some parts mine:

"Chancelor Merkel has defended the secrecy of the TTIP negotiations. She claims it couldn't be done in public because the other party (the US) are bound to get

Comments

[luvdovz]

Let's not fool ourselves. TTIP is corruption of Europe's own making.

Most notably:

More concerning however, is TTIP’s ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) clause. ISDS is not new, but has existed for half a century. It is a secretive tribunal, usually hosted by the World Bank through ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes). They settle disputes between corporations and countries they sue, resulting in fines of up to billions of dollars.

Money is best made in muddy waters. And TTIP is quite promising in that respect.

[dreamville_bg]

Sounds more like jamming up the ass rather than shoving down the throat but those are just technicalities.

[mahnmut]

Curiously, Obama has warned the UK that if they were to leave the EU, they'd lose from a Brexit and assume a place at the back of the line in terms of trade and economic benefits from a possible "enhanced partnership" with the US, post-TTIP.

While a lot of the opposition may or may not be wildly overblown, the premise of the article is sound overall.

From the standpoint of all those who are talking of exiting the EU (in part exactly because the way technocrats and/or lobbyists are "shoving" such hugely important legislation like TTIP down the throats of the public), considering that one of the big Euroskeptic arguments for leaving the EU is that "we could make our own free trade deals", there is zero doubt that anyone in that position would pursue a free trade agreement with the US as soon as possible after leaving.

The only way to shape (or prevent) the framework of such a relationship is within the EU, otherwise the EU will do it without the runaway countries, and they'll just be taken along in the tide.

[luzribeiro]

The privatization of European public services by US companies, including health care, is a tempting trophy indeed. And it's part of the "free" trade agreement, too. Apart from food and environmental safety, banking regulations, privacy, jobs and democracy itself, which are all being quietly put on the line.