CETA is a toxic trade deal. It's bad for the environment, workers, farming, food standards and sovereignty & must not be ratified

My article in todays Indo👇

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/eu-canada-trade-deal-plays-into-the-hands-of-big-business-it-must-not-be-ratified-39864514.html 

Some highlights:

....."The move to deregulate financial markets was one of the main causal factors of the global financial crash. Regulation, however inconvenient to big businesses, has a crucial role in democracy and economic stability. It provides safeguards against exploitation and protects hard earned rights of the most vulnerable in society....."

Here’s why TDs should vote against CETA on Tuesday.

Climate Change:  The most dangerous aspect of CETA is the Investment Court System (ICS) which allows foreign investors to sue governments for enacting policies that interfere with their profits. For example, signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement in Europe are required to change laws in favour of renewable energy. However, under ICS foreign investors could legally challenge that legislation. Unlike CETA, the Paris Agreement is not legally binding. Efforts to reduce fossil fuel extraction and use could be undermined by industry investors being afforded protections not extended to the environment and public health.  

​Farming: Canada has lower production standards and allows carcasses to be cleaned using chemicals such as chlorine. As a result, Canada produces meat 60% cheaper than the EU. Increasing Canadian imports could therefore significantly impact European farmers, particularly already beleaguered Irish Beef farmers, who would struggle to compete on price and scale with Canadian counterparts. Which is probably why The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association rejected CETA in 2017.

Sovereignty and democracy: Article 30.9 of CETA states. “In the event that this Agreement is terminated, the provisions of Chapter Eight (Investment) shall continue to be effective for a period of 20 years after the date of termination of this Agreement in respect of investments made before that date”. Our planet can’t wait 20 years and our children won’t forgive us for locking them into this disastrous deal.

It’s no wonder former UN expert on human rights, Alfred-Maurice de Zayas referred to “corporate courts” as “an attack on the very essence of sovereignty and self-determination”. He warned that some 608 arbitration awards overrode national law and hindered States in the sovereign determination of fiscal and budgetary policy, labour, health and environmental regulation, and have had adverse human rights impacts..."

"Food safety: The EU’s “precautionary principle”, whereby the onus is on food producers to prove that chemicals used are safe, will be deemed a “barrier to trade”, permitting a common regulatory mechanism, where any substance can be used until it is proven unsafe. Canada has weaker food safety and labelling standards than the EU, and industrial agriculture more heavily dependent on pesticides and GM crops. CETA also allows Canadian and US multinationals to undermine rules concerning cloning, GM crops and growth hormones.

 The government has no mandate to ratify this disastrous deal. In July 2017, Over 80 Irish civil society groups, including unions, farmers, environmentalists and business owners, called for the rejection of the deal by the Irish Government. The coalition united in opposition to CETA as a “bad trade deal” that will compromise laws to protect health, food standards, farmers’ interests, the environment, worker’s rights, and the rule of law.

 Rushing through ratification now, under the cover of coronavirus chaos, without proper debate and public engagement debases democracy.

 In 2017, Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan warned that the ICS would give big business power over governments and courts and that the deal offered no environmental protections. He said, “The way it was centred around lobbying by big corporate interests rather than the public interest is wrong”.

Thus far, the Green Party has done the bidding of its neo-liberal coalition partners on matters of social justice, ostensibly keeping its powder dry for climate justice. Notwithstanding the fact that the two are inextricably linked, if the Greens vote to ratify CETA, it begs the question: what is the point of the Green Party if it’s just propping up a government that continuously puts multinational interests before those of our planet and country?"