Open letter to Trade Ministers: stop CETA!

Subject: Take a stand against special, undemocratic privileges for foreign investors and pledge your opposition against CETA on May 13.

Dear Ministers,

We want to bring citizens’ concerns about the planned EU-Canada trade agreement CETA to your attention.

Millions of citizens have raised concerns, among many other reasons, because this treaty includes an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism that grants foreign investors the right to sue states if they believe that laws or regulations adopted by Canada, the EU or any of its member states have damaged their investments or reduced their expected profit. This will affect laws and measures enacted in the interest of the common good, such as health, environmental and consumer protection. [1]

The European Commission has claimed that a reformed version of ISDS called the Investment Court System (ICS) has remedied the flaws of ISDS. Studies have already documented that the ICS proposal does not address fundamental problems with investment dispute settlement [2]. Moreover, various civil society organisations have put this claim to test - and it has failed it. While the European Commission promised that some of the most egregious cases, which have come to symbolise the injustices and wrongs of ISDS, would no longer be possible under this “reformed” system, analyses prove those claims wrong. [3] Attacks against the Canadian moratorium on fracking, the German nuclear phase out, or the Uruguayan anti-smoking laws: the text in the CETA investment chapter fails to prevent any of these controversial cases, and dramatically increases the liability of European member states [4]. Once CETA has been introduced, the vast majority of US companies, with a representation in Canada, will be able to sue your country, no matter what happens with TTIP.

This view is also supported by more than 87.000 Europeans who have signed a petition [5] against any form of special legal rights for investors, whether called ISDS or ICS, to avoid all the associated risks. The risk of ‘regulatory chill’ and unknown financial liabilities for EU member states would be the result of the expansion of investor privileges through CETA. With CETA, thousands of additional corporations will be able – and prone - to litigate.

Privileges for foreign investors must not trump democratic decision making. We call on you to reject any special rights for investors and refuse the ratification of CETA.

Thank you,

This letter is co-signed by WeMove Europe and the following organisations

                            

                             

                          

[1] https://stop-ttip.org/what-is-the-problem-ttip-ceta/

[2] http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/the_zombie_isds_0.pdf

[3] http://www.s2bnetwork.org/investment-court-system-put-test/

[4] http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3306&q=EU-ISDS-liability

[5] https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/specialcourts