EU trade deals

Following calls for openness and public participation, the European Commission now advertises its trade negotiations as transparent and inclusive. But crucial information about EU trade deals are still kept from citizens. Even member state governments regularly complain about being left in the dark. At the same time, corporations continue to call the shots on EU trade talks.

162 civil society organisations from across Europe have called for European trade policy to be made more democratic. Only a democratic and transparent process from its inception has the potential to ensure that trade and investment agreements will benefit all.

The controversial EU-Canada trade deal CETA has now been provisionally applied. Our new mobile and desktop game Dodgy Deals lets players face some of the dangerous features of trade deals like CETA and shows what is at stake.

91 per cent of meetings held by UK trade ministers (10/2016 - 06/2017) and 70 per cent of meetings held by UK Brexit ministers have been with business, too often big business, interests. This corporate bias in ministerial access is part of an ongoing trend.

The European Commission is negotiating trade deals and it is currently finalising a deal with Japan, the Japan-European Union Free Trade Agreement or JEFTA. Regulatory cooperation in JEFTA has the potential to be detrimental to our democracy, giving big business more rights to be involved in lawmaking at an early stage.

Our new report exposes how corporate lobbies and think tanks have gone on what appears to be a concerted attack against NGOs and the movement for trade justice.

Corporate lobbyists have enjoyed the biggest share of consultations with the UK’s Department for Exiting the EU, as well as those with the EU Brexit Task Force. New research by Corporate Europe Observatory and Global Justice Now reveals their privileged access and the secrecy around these lobby meetings.

UK trade secretary Liam Fox has come under fire for the strong business bias of his Department for International Trade's lobby meetings, as he launches unofficial trade negotiations with the US today - a bias that raises questions about the way a possible post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal might be skewed in the interest of Big Business.

The EU is negotiating a number of highly controversial free trade agreements, which would give more powers to corporations. Our new report shows how regulatory cooperation in CETA and TTIP is a gift for Big Business that keeps on giving.

Over 450 public interest groups from across Europe and Canada today published an open letter urging legislators to vote against the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). They joined forces to defend people and planet against the threats posed by the EU-Canada agreement.

The EU-Canada trade deal CETA continues to draw heavy criticism. Behind the PR attempts to sell it as a progressive agreement - including recent declarations designed to reassure critics and gain support for its ratification - CETA remains what it always has been: an attack on democracy, workers, and the environment. It would be a major mistake to ratify it.

There are many potential winners of the awards for the worst lobbyist on TTIP, probably the most corporate dominated trade negotiations in history.