A hereby-open letter to the ombudsman re TTIP

In a recent email from SumofUs we learn:

The European Ombudsman -- the place where European citizens can lodge complaints about EU politics -- has opened a formal investigation into TTIP and its lack of transparency following pressure from civil society. We have only 7 days left to write to the Ombudsman and let her know how we feel about our rights being negotiated away in a secret trade deal.

 

Here's my hastily constructed email -do use it as a template yourself.

 

Dear Ombudsman,

I have to say that I remain very concerned about the TTIP negotiations despite cautious reassurances from my MP drawing on government documents. The reassurances, on closer examination have often turned out to be misleading or illusory: it is no answer, for example, to cite the paucity of successful legal actions by corporations on governments when what is at issue is the legitimacy of doing so and when there are in fact some not only successful actions using similar treaty clauses but ones which have clearly been to the detriment of civil society in those places.

While I understand the need a sensitive handling of negotiations in trade related deals, this should not extend to the actual bringing of the fruits of the negotiations into the force of law and practice. That part of the process needs to be fully open and subject to rigorous democratic scrutiny since it has implications for the powers of government and the balance of power between democratic institutions and corporate interests. The very real fear is that the latter may be about to gain considerable traction at the expense of civil society and to the detriment of the less powerful and relatively poor.

What we need is some kind of guide to what is potentially agreed and something to give confidence that it will not further erode democratic accountability and have the effect of sweeping away hard-won protections for labour, environment, safety and animal welfare. Many of us are very concerned that these valued rights and protections are endangered by the content and process of the TTIP negotiations. If there is nothing to fear then at the very least there needs to be a clear and robust confidence-building explanation to all the peoples of the EU which allows us to make an informed decisions about whether we do, in fact, wish to accept the TTIP treaty.