Silence in all the usual places
Thousands
rally in Hannover against TTIP trade deal a day before Obama’s
visit
RT,
23
April, 2016
Thousands
of protesters have come out onto the streets of Hannover to say 'No'
to the controversial TTIP US-EU trade deal. Many in Germany fear it
will reduce consumer protection and undermine workers’ protection.
While
the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the
US and Europe is set to create the world's largest free trade zone,
many Europeans worry that the agreement would elevate corporate
interest above national interest. TTIP opponents say that cheaper
goods and services would only hurt the EU and help the US.
Anastasia Churkina
As Obama says all countries have to give up something for TTIP, 1000s marching in Germany say NO
“People
say the deal is going to compromise the European Union sovereignty,
and would create much more secrecy, with one of the biggest concerns
being that the agreement is wrapped in a big veil of secrecy that
people are not happy with,” RT's Anastasia Churkina reported from
Hannover.
John
Hilary, the executive director of War on Want, an anti-poverty
charity, told RT that large sections of the general public stand to
lose out if TTIP is passed.
“The
official statistics say that at least 1 million people will lose
their jobs as a direct result of TTIP. This is in the European Union,
where 680,000 jobs will go, and in the USA.”
Hilary
was also damning about how TTIP has been “pushed down people’s
throats” by an unelected EU. He also mentioned that if the
legislation is passed, it would give American companies alarming
cross-border powers.
“There
will also be courts where US companies will get this power for the
first time to sue our governments in Europe if at any time there is a
new law or regulation introduced, which threatens their profits. This
is an extraordinary threat to the rule of law and democracy and our
chance to build a better future,” he said.
The
US is Germany's biggest trading partner. German Chancellor Angela
Merkel is set to discuss the TTIP deal with Obama when he visits a
trade show in Hannover on Sunday and Monday.
Castor Nix Da
"The
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is one of the best
ways to promote growth and create jobs," the US president
stressed in an interview with Bild.
Wrapping
up a deal would be a "win-win situation," Angela Merkel
announced in her weekly podcast, adding that "it is good for us
as we will be able to appraise our competitors."
Marcel Böttcher
In
the best-case scenario, TTIP could cover over 40 percent of global
GDP and account for large shares of world trade and foreign direct
investment.
Washington’s ambassador to Germany, Anthony L. Gardner, said in an exclusive interview with EurActiv in 2014 that “we need this deal to help solidify further the transatlantic alliance, to provide an economic equivalent to NATO and to set the rules of world trade before others do it for us.”
Washington’s ambassador to Germany, Anthony L. Gardner, said in an exclusive interview with EurActiv in 2014 that “we need this deal to help solidify further the transatlantic alliance, to provide an economic equivalent to NATO and to set the rules of world trade before others do it for us.”
Stop TTIP
Thanks but no thanks, Mr @BarackObama ! We don't need no #TTIP -tens of thousands say in Hannover: #StopTTIP #NoTTIP
Public
support for the transatlantic trade deal has meanwhile been weak.
According to a recent survey conducted by pollsters YouGov on behalf
of the Bertelsmann Foundation, only 17 percent of Germans think the
TTIP is a good thing, down from 55 percent two years ago. In the
United States, only 18 percent of people now support the deal,
compared to 53 percent in 2014.
Nearly
half of US respondents complained about a lack of information, saying
they did not know enough about the agreement to voice an opinion.
This is what Obomber and Killary are really about ...
Meanwhile EU-apologist, the Guardian, reports Killary Clinton
This is what Obomber and Killary are really about ...
US
presidential hopeful weighs in on forthcoming vote as No 10 welcomes
latest backing ahead of 23 June referendum
Hillary
Clinton has thrown her weight behind the campaign to keep Britain
inside the European Union in a major new boost to David Cameron’s
hopes of winning a Remain vote on 23 June.
After
Barack Obama used his farewell trip to the UK as president to make
the economic and security arguments for membership, Clinton, who is
the favourite to win the Democratic nomination in July and become the
first female US president, makes clear that if she enters the White
House she will want the UK to be fully engaged, and leading the
debate, within the EU.
In
a statement to the Observer, her senior policy adviser, Jake
Sullivan, said: “Hillary Clinton believes that transatlantic
cooperation is essential, and that cooperation is strongest when
Europe is united. She has always valued a strong United Kingdom in a
strong EU. And she values a strong British voice in the EU.”
Sources close to the former secretary of state’s campaign said she
stood fully behind Obama’s opposition to Brexit, which the
president said on Friday would not only undermine the international
institutions, including the EU, that had bound nations closer
together since 1945, but would also mean the UK being at “the back
of the queue” when negotiating new trade deals.
Obama’s
remarks drew angry responses from leading figures in the Leave
campaign, including the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who
questioned the president’s right to intervene. Leading backers of
Brexit also tried to dismiss Obama’s view as that of a “lame duck
president” soon to be out of office.
The
former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox, a Brexit enthusiast, said on
Friday night that Obama’s opinions would be irrelevant after the US
elections in November. “Whoever it is that will be at the helm of
the United States won’t be Barack Obama,” Fox told BBC2’s
Newsnight. “It will be the next president, and the next congress,
who will be in charge of any trade arrangements.” But the Remain
camp and No 10 sources said that such arguments had exploded in the
faces of the Brexit camp.
The
Conservative MP Damian Green, a board member of the Britain Stronger
In Europe campaign and the chairman of European Mainstream, said:
“This shows how misleading it is to say this is just the view of a
president in his last days in office. It confirms that mainstream
political opinion in the United States is in favour of Britain
remaining in the EU, and that the transatlantic values that we share
with the US are expressed most strongly in Europe by a fully engaged
Britain.”
A
No 10 source said: “Not only do you have the serving US president
setting out why the UK is better off staying in the EU, but now those
who aspire to be president too. Hillary Clinton worked with the UK as
secretary of state for a number of years and saw first hand how the
UK’s influence was magnified by the role we played in the EU. When
you face a big decision in life, most people listen to their friends,
and we disregard such advice at our peril.”
The
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has not offered a view
on whether he thinks the UK should stay in or leave the EU, although
he has said he believes there is a good chance the British people
will vote for Brexit, partly because of their unhappiness with levels
of immigration.
The
Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong critic of American foreign
policy, held talks with Obama during which the president
congratulated him on being elected leader and the two touched briefly
on Europe. Corbyn said they discussed “the challenges facing
post-industrial societies and the power of global corporations and
the increasing use of technology around the world and the effect that
has”.
Earlier,
addressing an audience of 500 people, many aged between 18 and 30, at
a town hall-style event in central London, the president said that
the UK’s role in the EU had helped secure peace on the continent.
The
president said that “from the ashes of war” the UK and the US had
formed institutions that had delivered “decades of relative peace
and prosperity in Europe and that in turn have helped spread peace
and prosperity around the world”.
Obama
urged the young audience to reject isolationism and xenophobia. “I
implore you to reject those calls and I’m here to ask you to reject
the notions and take a longer and more optimistic view of history,”
the president said.
Obama
leaves the UK on Sunday for Germany, where he will attend Hanover’s
industrial technology fair. He will then hold talks with David
Cameron, the French president, François Hollande, German chancellor
Angela Merkel, and Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, during
which they will discuss the next phase of the war against Islamic
State and the unfolding chaos in Libya.
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