During a debate with European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström in the European Parliament today, S&D Euro MPs confirmed their continued objections over the inclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) in the EU-US trade agreement (TTIP).
Speaking on the release of a new concept proposal by the Commission, S&D spokesperson on trade David Martin MEP stressed:
"European citizens have real concerns over the inclusion of an ISDS provision in TTIP. Despite a few positive changes, this paper does not do enough to allay these fears. We need much clearer rules on transparency, and the right of governments to regulate in the public interest must be unambiguous. We need to clearly state that foreign investors have no greater rights than domestic ones."
S&D MEP Bernd Lange, who chairs the international trade committee in the European Parliament and is also the author of the parliamentary report on TTIP, added:
"This paper is a step in the right direction but it still does not go far enough to restore public confidence on the issue. We welcome the move towards a Permanent Investment Court with full-time judges and a clear appeal mechanism. We have always argued that this is a much better solution than the opaque private arbitration previously proposed. However on this and on other issues the paper is still too vague. We need reassurance that a standing court is a clear commitment and not merely part of a plan for the future. The Commission must take this into account, as well as the other demands we have outlined, if we are to support the agreement in the European Parliament."
The S&D position paper is attached below.
