Today, the city of Karnobat in
Bulgaria became the 2000th city/council to turn CETA and/or
TTIP-free, and joined a growing European movement to stop the
controversial trade agreements.
All over Europe, cities and
counties, such as Amsterdam, Cologne, Edinburgh, Grenoble, Barcelona,
Milan, Vienna, Thessaloniki, stand against the so-called
transatlantic free trade agreements, denouncing the lack of
transparency of the negotiations and calling for local and regional
bodies to play an integral part in the negotiation. By declaring
their cities and counties CETA- and TTIP-free zones, mayors and local
politicians affirm their will as elected representatives to make
citizens' voices heard by their governments and by the European
Commission, defending local communities and democratic institutions
as spaces for debate and decision-making.
"75 million citizens in
Europe now live in TTIP and/or CETA free zones", said
AmélieCanonne, President of Aitec and one of the facilitators of the
French collective Stop TAFTA. "It's crystal clear that the
people across Europe and their local representatives categorically
refuse these unfair treaties. It's time for national governments to
listen."
In addition to the pressure from
local authorities, both trade deals have been recently called into
doubt by senior politicians from several countries in Europe. The
French secretary of State for foreign trade Matthias Fekl and the
German vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel have voiced reticences about
TTIP, and the Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has raised concerns
about CETA. Despite all these statements, Jean-Claude Juncker has
confirmed last weekend at the G20 that the EU Commission will
continue negotiating the TTIP agreement. Widespread demonstrations
against CETA and TTIP are taking place across Europe this autumn.
As part of this Autumn of action,
mayors and councillors opposed to CETA and TTIP will gather in
Brussels on October 20th, for a Citizens' CETA Summit.
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