EU-US Trade Negotiations: French senators strongly attack trade deal - What about Dutch Parliament? Asleep?

During a debate in the French Senate, all political parties harshly criticized the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), but the French government defended the potential deal, EurActiv France reports.

The minister in charge of foreign trade, Nicole Bricq, admit with regret that France was the country where the mobilisation against what they call the 'transatlantic treaty', is the strongest.

A debate, which took place in the Senate on Thursday (9 January), showed bipartisan opposition to the agreement and the government found itself somewhat isolated on the topic after facing criticism from
speakers from all political sides.

he former French interior minister, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, reminded that the idea for a partnership was first and foremost an American idea, as the US wished to rebalance the trade surplus that the EU had with the country and bring back jobs to their continent.

“The companies’ interests are not always those of the states," warned  a politician, who considers that the currency issue should have been settled before signing a trade agreement.

“We should have put in place a transatlantic snake in the tunnel in order to establish, softly, a real parity between the euro and the dollar. We cannot talk about free trade when the parity between euro and
dollar go from one to two in ten years only.”

In his opinion, this aspect should be included in the negotiations, but the minister Bricq replied it was not on the agenda.

André Gattolin, a Green MP, also strongly opposed the partnership project, said that Europe had its own identity and should preserve it.  He also put forward the impact it would have on inequality in different European countries.

“We are promised 0.5% growth but only some zones will take advantage of it like the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp,” the MP went on to say.

“As it is, this project is bad and we saw with the NSA scandal that the dice are loaded,” he added.

Jean Bizet from the centre-right opposition, UMP, expressed concern about the food and agriculture aspects of the deal and notably the milk file, as cheese imports increase in France and milk producing regions grow anxious at the end of milk quotas in 2015.

The sharpest remark came from a member of the government's socialist majority, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann.

“I am very hostile to this treaty,” she said. “We are forced to note that happy globalisation did not happen! … multinational companies are in a situation that we cannot regulate,” she added.

The MP was sceptical about the growth perspectives, too. She added that the promised growth points could be reached with a recovery policy supported by large-scale work projects.

Read more: French senators strongly attack EU-US trade deal | EurActiv

EU-US Trade Negotiations: EU sovereignty ‘at risk’ if judicial independence is surrendered to multinational corporations

More than 200 organisations across the EU, including the TUC, Greenpeace and War on Want, have written a joint letter to European and American trade negotiators demanding the removal of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process from the final treaty.

“ISDS is a one-way street by which corporations can challenge government policies, but neither governments nor individuals are granted comparable rights to hold corporations accountable,” they wrote.

Campaign groups in Britain are due to put their concerns to the Department of Business  this Wednesday, while an Early Day Motion in Parliament, signed by MPs from all parties, calls for the trade talks to be frozen until the issue is resolved.

The European Commission and the British Government insisted the deal would include safeguards to prevent misuse by corporations, thus guaranteeing the right of EU governments to “pursue legitimate public policy objectives such as social, environmental, security, public health and safety” without the risk of being sued.

ISDS has been a long-established principle of multilateral trade deals between countries and is a process designed to ensure investors are not discriminated against by governments or biased judicial systems. It allows companies who believe they have been unfairly treated to take states to a neutral arbitration panel that can award compensation for loss of earnings.

But in recent years, campaigners claim, it has been used by large multinational companies to sue governments acting in the public interest. The Slovak Republic was forced to pay $22m (£13.4m) damages after the government reversed the liberalisation of its health-insurance market.

Campaigners say the arbitration panels are unaccountable and are not likely to assess issues of national interest when making decisions.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, who tabled the parliamentary motion, said the move would “overturn decades of laws and regulations formed through democratic processes on both sides of the Atlantic”.

Former UK Labour minister John Healey, who chairs the British parliamentary group on EU-US trade and investment, said: “It is not clear ISDSs are justified at all when the agreement will be struck between countries with some of the most advanced and stable legal systems in the world.”

Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “These clauses could thwart attempts by a future government to bring our health service back towards public ownership.”

Charlie Kronick, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace, said the group feared ISDS provisions could be used to prevent the EU from restricting imports of US diesel made from polluting tar sands in Canada.

But EU trade spokesman John Clancy said the fears of campaigners were entirely misplaced. “The sad irony is that the many critics of investment protection and in particular ISDS are actually arguing for us to maintain the status quo which is at the heart of the problem.” He added: “The EU wants to close down such loopholes in a future EU-US deal by spelling out what is and is not possible, improving transparency and creating modern, state-of-the art investment arrangements.”

The question which remains ignored by the EU Commission and EU Parliament  is how the EU can even  negotiate with a partner like the US, where most  of the political establishment is now indirectly on the payroll of multi-national and local corporations and which has a spy-network in place which is collecting personal data not only from EU-citizens, but also is able to extrapolate strategic negotiation information from the EU-trade negotiation team wherever they may be. 

To anyone with at least some intelligence these trade negotiations have, so far, not been carried out on a level playing field and the EU better take off their "blinders" .    

EU-Digest

The Netherlands: French President François Hollande visiting Netherlands as rumors swirl about affair with actress

French President François Hollande

French President François Hollande will make a formal visit to the Netherlands on tomorrow January 20^th, the Dutch Ministry of General Affairs had announced.

Hollande’s visit, the Ministry said, will be in light of “further strengthening the ties between the Netherlands and France, with special attention to economic relations.” Hollande will visit with King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the Hague.

President François Hollande visit to the Netherlands comes as he endures a barrage of negative publicity after his 48-year-old first lady partner journalist was admitted a week ago to Paris’ Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital for rest. 

President Hollande's Press office said she had experienced a “crisis of nerves” upon learning of the report in Closer magazine last week that the 59-year-old president has been having an affair with Movie actress Ulie Gayet, 41.

Almere-Digest

Russia Winter Olympics: Gay people should feel comfortable at the Sochi Olympics says President Putin

Gay people should feel comfortable at the Sochi Olympics but “leave children in peace,” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

In June, Putin signed into law a bill forbidding the promotion of homosexuality to minors, sparking months of controversy ahead of the February 7-23 event in Sochi.

The law’s proponents argue that it is aimed at protecting children from harmful influences, but critics allege the move restricts freedom of speech and is part of a broader crackdown on Russia’s gay community.

Gay sex is not a crime in Russia, so gay people can “feel calm, at ease, but leave children in peace, please,” Putin said at a meeting with Olympic volunteers in the mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana, the base outside Sochi for Olympic snow sports.

The remarks come a day after Putin repeated his vow that there would be “no discrimination” at the Games. He has previously said that Russia will “do everything” to ensure a warm welcome for Sochi guests “regardless … of sexual orientation.”

Russia's Interior Ministry, which controls the police, has vowed to enforce the controversial anti-gay law at the Olympics. There will also be tight restrictions on protests, which are confined to a park in a small town that lies more than 12 kilometers from any Olympic venues.

U.S. President Barack Obama will not attend the Games, and his nomination of two gay former athletes to his country’s delegation has been widely interpreted as a comment on the Russian law.

Note EU-Digest: Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill . Gay sex is not a crime in Russia, but promoting sex  - whatever kind of sex - involving minors is not acceptable in any country.  

EU-Digest

Netherlands: Dutch business leaders slam cabinet polices, support at record low

Dutch business leaders are extremely unhappy with the current right-left coalition's policies and think the cabinet is failing to tackle the crisis.

Employers' organisation VNO-NCW questioned 471 company bosses about their attidudes to the VVD-PvdA government and current policy. In total, the cabinet scored just 4.9 out of 10 - a record low according to the Telegraaf.

Prime minister Mark Rutte was rated 5.4, well below most of his senior ministers. Top ranked minister was finance chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem from the PVDA (Labour Party) government coalition member, who scored 6.6.

Read more: DutchNews.nl - Dutch business leaders slam cabinet polices, support at record low

European Super Markets: : Carrefour Buoyed by France, Spain - by Christina Passariello

French retail giant Carrefour reported improved fourth-quarter sales in France and Spain, two of the countries hardest hit by European's economic slowdown, but doubts remain if the turnaround is solid.

Carrefour said Thursday that fourth-quarter sales rose 3.2% on an organic basis, stripping out exchange rate fluctuations, acquisitions and disposals. On a reported basis, sales fell to €22.2 billion ($30.2 billion) for the period—down from €22.85 billion a year earlier as a result of weaker currencies in Brazil and Argentina. Carrefour competes with Tesco PLC for the title of world's second-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart Stores. 

 

Sales grew faster in France than in any quarter since 2007, Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon said. Stripping out gasoline sales, sales in Carrefour's biggest market grew 1.7%. "We had good momentum in all our formats," Mr. Sivignon said, from hypermarkets to convenience stores. 

Carrefour's performance in France has been at the core of Chief Executive Georges Plassat's strategy since he took the helm of the company over a year and a half ago. The mantra in the sector is that a retailer must be strong in its home market before it can succeed abroad. Mr. Plassat has revived Carrefour in France with a clear emphasis on low-prices and store renovations.

Yet analysts fixated on the fact that the French sales increase was lower than its third-quarter comeback, when sales rose 3%. "Sales at hypermarkets were slightly disappointing," said Citigroup nalyst Alastair Johnston. Mr. Sivignon said sales in November lifted the entire fourth quarter.

In Spain, Carrefour logged 1.2% sales growth in the fourth quarter—the first time it has moved into positive territory in "many years," said Mr. Johnston. Spanish consumers significantly cut back on their shopping bills during the country's economic crisis. At the end of last year, some got extra spending money: the payment of Christmas bonuses to civil servants that were suspended in 2012—which Carrefour said boosted its sales.

Further abroad, Carrefour had stronger growth in Brazil, its second-largest market.

Sales increased 6.8%, excluding the heavy penalty of a weak Brazilian real. Carrefour opened several new stores and is considering listing its Brazilian unit on the local stock market to finance further expansion, Mr. Sivignon said. "We will grow in Brazil and an IPO is one of the items we have in our toolbox to finance expansion in the coming years," he said.

But sales in China, long Carrefour's second growth engine alongside Brazil, didn't shine. Carrefour cited a "slowing consumption environment" for its 3.1% drop in sales at stores open at least a year. "Asia saw the most disappointing performance," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne.

Read more: Carrefour Buoyed by France, Spain - WSJ.com

EU Millitary Cooperation: Finland in 200 million-euro used tank deal with the Netherlands

 The Finnish Defence Forces will upgrade its rolling stock with used tanks from the Netherlands. The new equipment will be delivered in 2015.

The military deal will see Finland purchase 100 used German made Leopard 2A6 battle tanks for 200 million euros from the Netherlands.

Finnish army officials are well-acquainted with the model, since it has been using 139 older Leopard 2A4 tanks. The vast majority of the older model tanks were acquired used from Germany between 2002 and 2004; more were purchased in 2009.

Colonel Jukka Valkeajärvi said that the newer 2A6 tank has far better performance capabilities than the older model.

“We’re talking about two completely different tanks. Roughly said, the current tank is quite good, but its performance is not quite what it should be nowadays. This 2A6 model is a 21st century tank,” Valkeajärvi added.

The army colonel would not say what would become of the older stock, as a separate decision needs to be made on its fate. Older tanks acquired from the former Soviet Union and Germany were taken out of use to make way for the Leopard 2A4 tanks.

Note: It would be fascinating to know what use Finland can have for these old Dutch tanks. Certainly not to stop Russian tank forces. Anyway, it seems the Dutch must be laughing all the way to the bank 

Read more: Finland in 200 million-euro used tank deal with the Netherlands | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi