The Rise and Fall of TTIP, As Told in 51 Updates
This year will be make or break for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). It is already years behind its original, hopelessly-optimistic schedule, and is now running into immovable political events in the form of the US Presidential elections, and the general elections in Germany. If TTIP isn't wrapped up this year, it is probably dead until whenever the next attempt to push through such a global takeover of democracy begins, as it surely will.
From July 2013 until April 2015 I wrote a series of irregular TTIP Updates, which charted the latest developments of the negotiations. They form the most detailed description of how TTIP emerged and developed during the first two years of the negotiations. Although superseded by more recent events, they nonetheless offer a historical record of what happened during that time, and may help people understand the strange beast that is TTIP somewhat better.
These Updates were published on Computerworld UK, which has a Web page with consolidated links to the updates. Unfortunately, re-designs and other changes at the site have led to link-rot setting in. Although the Computerworld UK page remains the main site for these Updates, I thought it would be useful - and prudent - to offer a mirror here on Open....
Below I have linked to the mirrored Updates, which appear as separate posts on the present blog. Since I can't extract the final versions of the columns from the Computerworld UK site, I've used my local files. These may differ slightly from the final, published versions - if there's anything major, I'll try to edit them at some stage. Similarly, there may be odd typos that I have missed; please feel free to point them out in the comments so that I can fix them.
I should also warn readers that there are many broken links, especially to other Computerworld UK columns, whose URLs have all changed. If I have time, I will try to fix the more important ones of these, but given that I probably won't have time, please don't hold your breath...
Although I am unlikely to write any more updates, I am most certainly going to keep covering TTIP during this crucial year - indeed, I intend to up my coverage considerably to reflect the crucial stage of the negotiations we have now reached. I've already written a couple of big features on the topic for Ars Technica UK, which serve as introductions to this whole area for those coming to it for the first time, and as summaries of what has happened for those who are already familiar with the main issues.
The first, entitled "TTIP explained: The secretive US-EU treaty that undermines democracy", is a 6000-word backgrounder to the whole area. The more recent "How EU nations are being sued for billions by foreign companies in secret tribunals" concentrates on perhaps the most controversial - and dangerous - aspect of TTIP, the so-called "investor-state dispute settlement" (ISDS) mechanism that essentially places companies above national laws by giving them special tribunals in which they can sue governments for alleged "indirect expropriation" of future profits.
If you don't know about this aspect - or about TTIP in general - this is a good place to start. Once you find out what is proposed for TTIP, I am sure that you will be outraged, and hope that you will join me in trying to do something about it.
TTIP Update l
A review of the few details that emerged from the first round of negotiations, including an attempt by the European Commission to convince us that TAFTA/TTIP is not another ACTA.
TTIP Update ll
An introduction to investor-state dispute resolution (ISDS), and why its presence in TAFTA/TTIP is a grave threat to European sovereignty, open source and the Internet.
TTIP Update III
A point-by-point rebuttal of a document in which the European Commission tries to prove that the presence of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in TTIP is not a problem.
TTIP Update IV
An exploration of how the public is kept in the dark over TAFTA/TTIP, and the dangerous asymmetries it contains.
TTIP Update V
A discussion of a major Wikileaks document discussing intellectual monopolies in TAFTA/TTIP’s sister agreement, TPP, and what it means for TTIP.
TTIP Update VI
An analysis of a leaked document outlining the European Commission’s communication strategy for TAFTA/TTIP, and a look at how disastrous other trade agreements like NAFTA and KORUS have been.
TTIP Update VII
Yet another, increasingly desperate attempt to justify the unjustifiable inclusion of ISDS in TAFTA/TTIP, and why the arguments simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.
TTIP Update VIII
Lifting the lid on how a new transatlantic “TTIP Regulatory Council” would bring in massive deregulation, with a consequent lowering of food, health and environmental standards in Europe.
TTIP Update IX
How an astonishing attack on Corporate Europe Observatory reveals a floundering European Commission increasingly concerned that it is losing control of the TAFTA/TTIP debate.
TTIP Update X
Another (failed) attack, this time by Karel De Gucht, the EU's trade commissioner, who laughably tries to claim that there is no lack of transparency in the TAFTA negotiations, and that it’s worth accepting the threats posed by ISDS.
TTIP Update XI
So it looks like TAFTA/TTIP is, in fact, ACTA by the backdoor – despite what Mr De Gucht has said...
TTIP Update XII
Why the US Fast Track bill guarantees that TAFTA's ISDS chapter will be one-sided and unfair for EU companies.
TTIP Update XIII
Big news: EU pulls ISDS to allow unprecedented public consultation; UK report says ISDS in TTIP would bring little or no benefit.
TTIP Update XIV
What new CETA leaks tell us about EU's plans to re-vamp ISDS - and why they aren’t enough to protect European sovereignty or democracy.
TTIP Update XV
There are growing calls to keep data protection out of TAFTA/TTIP – and to reject the agreement if the privacy of European citizens is not adequately protected.
TTIP Update XVI
More details emerge on ISDS provisions, and a rather ironic call for transparency from the paranoically opaque USTR.
TTIP Update XVII
Bad news, lots of leaks, plus debunking another misleading European Commission document.
TTIP Update XVIII
New leaks, new Web sites, a hidden threat from the “most-favoured nation” approach, and an astonishing claim that Germany wants ISDS out of TTIP.
TTIP Update XIX
A newly-discovered CETA bug shows why the European Commission needs transparency; also, why regulatory data must be opendata
TTIP Update XX
All about transparency in TTIP - or, rather, the almost complete lack of it; includes details of three phantom EU consultations I never heard about, and few took part in.
TTIP Update XXI
Why that best-case “ €119 bn” GDP boost to EU economy equates to just an extra cup of coffee every week.
TTIP Update XXII
ISDS attacks on EU nations have begun – and that’s before TTIP would make it even more likely and costly.
TTIP Update XXIII
Why the European Commission’s consultation on ISDS is a sham, and fails to provide the promised "draft".
TTIP Update XXIV
Looking at important research that finds even more holes in the European Commission’s TTIP justifications.
TTIP Update XXV
A report on a desperate high-level attempt by the US and EU to counter German scepticism, plus the video & slides of my re:publica 14 talk about why TTIP's numbers just don’t add up.
TTIP Update XXVI
An action-packed update that includes fracking, water cannons and cosmetics – but still very little transparency.
TTIP Update XXVII
In which the European Commission’s misleading use of figures from its economic study is criticised, as is the study itself.
TTIP Update XXVIII
A major leak of EU services offer; an introduction to the top-secret TISA; and how the US it trying to buy love for TAFTA/TTIP.
TTIP Update XXIX
More on the secretive TISA negotiations; insight into the US's anti-transparency plans; and how the public is too stupid to understand TTIP.
TTIP Update XXX
More on the huge dangers of ISDS - and lots of help for responding to the European Commission’s travesty of a consultation on the same topic.
TTIP Update XXXI
Designed to be the final information on responding to the European Commission’s ISDS consultation, but we now learn the deadline has been extended because of huge numbers replying.
TTIP Update XXXII
A couple of interesting leaks, and a round-up of how TTIP is starting to enter the mainstream.
TTIP Update XXXIII
In the wake of the incredible 150,000 responses to the ISDS consultation, the revolt against this idea spreads to the highest reaches of the EU.
TTIP Update XXXIV
ISDS drama from Germany again, and how mutual recognition will undermine EU food and animal protection standards.
TTIP Update XXXV
The shape of multi-billion-pound ISDS lawsuits to come; a leak of the complete CETA agreement; and the threats lurking in US "certification".
TTIP Update XXXVI
Lots of news about CETA and ISDS, plus another slap in the face of the EU public.
TTIP Update XXXVII
Lots about CETA, and exciting plans for a European Citizens’ Initiative to let people make their views on TTIP known
TTIP Update XXXVIII
Slaps in the face of the EU public: a refusal to allow the ECI, and a "celebration" of CETA. Plus bad signs from the grilling of the new EU trade commissioner.
TTIP Update XXXIX
Nearly 50% of the claimed trade boost consists of swapping cars across the Atlantic.
TTIP Update XL
Rumours swirl that ISDS will come out of TTIP; even if it does, it's still in CETA and the new EU-Singapore free trade agreements.
TTIP Update XLI
Yet more sound and fury on the topic of ISDS in TTIP, but things remain as clear as mud.
TTIP Update XLII
Devasting new independent economic analysis of TTIP's likely effects on EU shows net losses in terms of GDP and 600,000 job losses.
TTIP Update XLIII
The problem of data flows, and why CETA's ISDS is a disaster.
TTIP Update XLIV
ISDS dangers in CETA and TTIP - and in the EU Singapore FTA.
TTIP Update XLV
They want "facts" and "hard evidence" about TTIP? Here they are...
TTIP Update XLVI
There are *already* more than €30 billion worth of ISDS claims against EU nations.
TTIP Update XLVII
The belated provision of improved transparency shows that public advocacy works.
TTIP Update XLVIII
The people have spoken: ISDS must go - no ifs, buts or maybes.
TTIP Update XLIX
New leaks show how transatlantic regulatory bodies will undermine EU and national sovereignty.
TTIP Update L
Should the views of a three-person tribunal take precedence over society's wishes?
TTIP Update LI
As resistance grows, TTIP is increasingly in trouble.
From July 2013 until April 2015 I wrote a series of irregular TTIP Updates, which charted the latest developments of the negotiations. They form the most detailed description of how TTIP emerged and developed during the first two years of the negotiations. Although superseded by more recent events, they nonetheless offer a historical record of what happened during that time, and may help people understand the strange beast that is TTIP somewhat better.
These Updates were published on Computerworld UK, which has a Web page with consolidated links to the updates. Unfortunately, re-designs and other changes at the site have led to link-rot setting in. Although the Computerworld UK page remains the main site for these Updates, I thought it would be useful - and prudent - to offer a mirror here on Open....
Below I have linked to the mirrored Updates, which appear as separate posts on the present blog. Since I can't extract the final versions of the columns from the Computerworld UK site, I've used my local files. These may differ slightly from the final, published versions - if there's anything major, I'll try to edit them at some stage. Similarly, there may be odd typos that I have missed; please feel free to point them out in the comments so that I can fix them.
I should also warn readers that there are many broken links, especially to other Computerworld UK columns, whose URLs have all changed. If I have time, I will try to fix the more important ones of these, but given that I probably won't have time, please don't hold your breath...
Although I am unlikely to write any more updates, I am most certainly going to keep covering TTIP during this crucial year - indeed, I intend to up my coverage considerably to reflect the crucial stage of the negotiations we have now reached. I've already written a couple of big features on the topic for Ars Technica UK, which serve as introductions to this whole area for those coming to it for the first time, and as summaries of what has happened for those who are already familiar with the main issues.
The first, entitled "TTIP explained: The secretive US-EU treaty that undermines democracy", is a 6000-word backgrounder to the whole area. The more recent "How EU nations are being sued for billions by foreign companies in secret tribunals" concentrates on perhaps the most controversial - and dangerous - aspect of TTIP, the so-called "investor-state dispute settlement" (ISDS) mechanism that essentially places companies above national laws by giving them special tribunals in which they can sue governments for alleged "indirect expropriation" of future profits.
If you don't know about this aspect - or about TTIP in general - this is a good place to start. Once you find out what is proposed for TTIP, I am sure that you will be outraged, and hope that you will join me in trying to do something about it.
TTIP Update l
A review of the few details that emerged from the first round of negotiations, including an attempt by the European Commission to convince us that TAFTA/TTIP is not another ACTA.
TTIP Update ll
An introduction to investor-state dispute resolution (ISDS), and why its presence in TAFTA/TTIP is a grave threat to European sovereignty, open source and the Internet.
TTIP Update III
A point-by-point rebuttal of a document in which the European Commission tries to prove that the presence of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in TTIP is not a problem.
TTIP Update IV
An exploration of how the public is kept in the dark over TAFTA/TTIP, and the dangerous asymmetries it contains.
TTIP Update V
A discussion of a major Wikileaks document discussing intellectual monopolies in TAFTA/TTIP’s sister agreement, TPP, and what it means for TTIP.
TTIP Update VI
An analysis of a leaked document outlining the European Commission’s communication strategy for TAFTA/TTIP, and a look at how disastrous other trade agreements like NAFTA and KORUS have been.
TTIP Update VII
Yet another, increasingly desperate attempt to justify the unjustifiable inclusion of ISDS in TAFTA/TTIP, and why the arguments simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.
TTIP Update VIII
Lifting the lid on how a new transatlantic “TTIP Regulatory Council” would bring in massive deregulation, with a consequent lowering of food, health and environmental standards in Europe.
TTIP Update IX
How an astonishing attack on Corporate Europe Observatory reveals a floundering European Commission increasingly concerned that it is losing control of the TAFTA/TTIP debate.
TTIP Update X
Another (failed) attack, this time by Karel De Gucht, the EU's trade commissioner, who laughably tries to claim that there is no lack of transparency in the TAFTA negotiations, and that it’s worth accepting the threats posed by ISDS.
TTIP Update XI
So it looks like TAFTA/TTIP is, in fact, ACTA by the backdoor – despite what Mr De Gucht has said...
TTIP Update XII
Why the US Fast Track bill guarantees that TAFTA's ISDS chapter will be one-sided and unfair for EU companies.
TTIP Update XIII
Big news: EU pulls ISDS to allow unprecedented public consultation; UK report says ISDS in TTIP would bring little or no benefit.
TTIP Update XIV
What new CETA leaks tell us about EU's plans to re-vamp ISDS - and why they aren’t enough to protect European sovereignty or democracy.
TTIP Update XV
There are growing calls to keep data protection out of TAFTA/TTIP – and to reject the agreement if the privacy of European citizens is not adequately protected.
TTIP Update XVI
More details emerge on ISDS provisions, and a rather ironic call for transparency from the paranoically opaque USTR.
TTIP Update XVII
Bad news, lots of leaks, plus debunking another misleading European Commission document.
TTIP Update XVIII
New leaks, new Web sites, a hidden threat from the “most-favoured nation” approach, and an astonishing claim that Germany wants ISDS out of TTIP.
TTIP Update XIX
A newly-discovered CETA bug shows why the European Commission needs transparency; also, why regulatory data must be opendata
TTIP Update XX
All about transparency in TTIP - or, rather, the almost complete lack of it; includes details of three phantom EU consultations I never heard about, and few took part in.
TTIP Update XXI
Why that best-case “ €119 bn” GDP boost to EU economy equates to just an extra cup of coffee every week.
TTIP Update XXII
ISDS attacks on EU nations have begun – and that’s before TTIP would make it even more likely and costly.
TTIP Update XXIII
Why the European Commission’s consultation on ISDS is a sham, and fails to provide the promised "draft".
TTIP Update XXIV
Looking at important research that finds even more holes in the European Commission’s TTIP justifications.
TTIP Update XXV
A report on a desperate high-level attempt by the US and EU to counter German scepticism, plus the video & slides of my re:publica 14 talk about why TTIP's numbers just don’t add up.
TTIP Update XXVI
An action-packed update that includes fracking, water cannons and cosmetics – but still very little transparency.
TTIP Update XXVII
In which the European Commission’s misleading use of figures from its economic study is criticised, as is the study itself.
TTIP Update XXVIII
A major leak of EU services offer; an introduction to the top-secret TISA; and how the US it trying to buy love for TAFTA/TTIP.
TTIP Update XXIX
More on the secretive TISA negotiations; insight into the US's anti-transparency plans; and how the public is too stupid to understand TTIP.
TTIP Update XXX
More on the huge dangers of ISDS - and lots of help for responding to the European Commission’s travesty of a consultation on the same topic.
TTIP Update XXXI
Designed to be the final information on responding to the European Commission’s ISDS consultation, but we now learn the deadline has been extended because of huge numbers replying.
TTIP Update XXXII
A couple of interesting leaks, and a round-up of how TTIP is starting to enter the mainstream.
TTIP Update XXXIII
In the wake of the incredible 150,000 responses to the ISDS consultation, the revolt against this idea spreads to the highest reaches of the EU.
TTIP Update XXXIV
ISDS drama from Germany again, and how mutual recognition will undermine EU food and animal protection standards.
TTIP Update XXXV
The shape of multi-billion-pound ISDS lawsuits to come; a leak of the complete CETA agreement; and the threats lurking in US "certification".
TTIP Update XXXVI
Lots of news about CETA and ISDS, plus another slap in the face of the EU public.
TTIP Update XXXVII
Lots about CETA, and exciting plans for a European Citizens’ Initiative to let people make their views on TTIP known
TTIP Update XXXVIII
Slaps in the face of the EU public: a refusal to allow the ECI, and a "celebration" of CETA. Plus bad signs from the grilling of the new EU trade commissioner.
TTIP Update XXXIX
Nearly 50% of the claimed trade boost consists of swapping cars across the Atlantic.
TTIP Update XL
Rumours swirl that ISDS will come out of TTIP; even if it does, it's still in CETA and the new EU-Singapore free trade agreements.
TTIP Update XLI
Yet more sound and fury on the topic of ISDS in TTIP, but things remain as clear as mud.
TTIP Update XLII
Devasting new independent economic analysis of TTIP's likely effects on EU shows net losses in terms of GDP and 600,000 job losses.
TTIP Update XLIII
The problem of data flows, and why CETA's ISDS is a disaster.
TTIP Update XLIV
ISDS dangers in CETA and TTIP - and in the EU Singapore FTA.
TTIP Update XLV
They want "facts" and "hard evidence" about TTIP? Here they are...
TTIP Update XLVI
There are *already* more than €30 billion worth of ISDS claims against EU nations.
TTIP Update XLVII
The belated provision of improved transparency shows that public advocacy works.
TTIP Update XLVIII
The people have spoken: ISDS must go - no ifs, buts or maybes.
TTIP Update XLIX
New leaks show how transatlantic regulatory bodies will undermine EU and national sovereignty.
TTIP Update L
Should the views of a three-person tribunal take precedence over society's wishes?
TTIP Update LI
As resistance grows, TTIP is increasingly in trouble.
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