Why we investigate TTIP
There are many rumors about the Free Trade between the EU and the USA. We want to know more because the negotiations have an impact on all of us. This website explains the Free Trade and shows the dealer in an interactive network analysis. But this is just the starting point for us. We will observe the negotiations on the long term, we will investigate and analyze what is important about TTIP.
The free trade agreement TTIP is a hot political issue. In the future, the USA and Europe want to form a zone in which goods and services can be bought and sold freely. In theory that sounds great: more competition will lower prices for consumers. Corruption will become more difficult and industry will have access to new markets when standards are harmonized. That means: more growth, more profits and more jobs.
But there are also significant concerns: will companies be able to undermine laws and impose their own interests against democratic decisions when TTIP establishes arbitration tribunals? Could local authorities be forced to sell their property? Will consumers be sold unsafe products?
Most discussions revolve around the question: are you for or against TTIP? We think that’s too simplistic. If TTIP is signed, it will affect us all. For that reason we need to know what the agreement is about. Who is negotiating what? Who influences whom and in what way? Which interests are represented?
We want to monitor what is changing for the worse and for the better. We want to follow the negotiations and examine how various lobby groups are trying to influence them. We want to analyze the news as it comes in and see which issues are controversial and which ones are blown out of proportion.
For that reason we want to go back to the beginning. We will explain in a comprehensible way what is being negotiated in TTIP, what free trade means and how it developed historically. On this TTIP website by CORRECTIV we collect documents, give updates on the latest developments and investigate everything that concerns the public.
At the same time we want to make transparent who is negotiating in our name. We have gathered the resumes of the negotiators from both the USA and Europe – as far as it was possible. We want to know the backgrounds of the people determining our future. Who have they worked for? To whom do they have obligations? The task is difficult. The EU but also the US are trying to keep this information secret. Several requests for information and resumes were denied or not answered. Nobody should know who speaks for hundreds of millions of Europeans. We were able to clear up some issues, on others we are still in the dark.
That is why we need your help: if you have any further information about the negotiators, send it to us. We review everything und publicize what we can responsibly release. Send us an email at: ttip@correctiv.org
If this is not secure enough or if you want to send us confidential documents, you can use our anonymous secure mailbox.
Our goal is that everyone should know what is being negotiated in TTIP. That way we can all be satisfied with the result.
If you want to help us, twitter using #TTIP
