Mr G.

DAVIES (United Kingdom) The Council of Europe must shine a bright light on the proposed EU-
US free trade agreement the so-called transatlantic trade and investment partnership as it
challenges our very core principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The rules for settling
investor-state disputes, the rules by which multinationals can sue democratically elected governments
for passing laws to protect their own citizens are, as we speak, being concocted by big corporations
behind closed doors.
In essence, if democratically elected governments want to protect their citizens health with
measures on smoking, sugar or fat or to protect their welfare rights or to shift the balance between
nationalised and privatised utilities, they can be sued in arbitration panels that are hidden from public
view under rules conjured up by the dark arts of corporate lawyers to protect profits instead of people.
We see, for example, tobacco giant Philip Morris, whose cigarettes have killed countless people, suing
Uruguay and Australia over anti-smoking laws that require warning labels or plain packaging for
cigarettes. We saw Dutch insurer Achmea suing Slovakia because it reversed health privatisation
policies. We see US fracking company Lone Pine wanting $250 million compensation from Canada owing
to Quebecs moratorium on fracking, and we see that Argentina has already paid more than $1 billion in
compensation to US and French companies for freezing utility rates for energy and water.
If political parties such as the Labour party in the United Kingdom want to freeze energy prices or
have a one-off tax on privatised utilities such as the Royal Mail or renationalise the railways or tax fizzy
drinks to protect peoples health, it needs to realise that the big corporations are preparing to sue it
through investor-state disputes. In other words, these corporations threaten our very core values such
as democracy as they intimidate and financially punish the will of the people. They also threaten the
human rights, health and safety at work, social security and fair working conditions in our social charter
and the rule of law itself, as investor-state disputes are decided in the shadow of darkness by arbitration
panels, not under the shining light of justice in open court.
We may all welcome the shared fruits of trade, but let that not be at the expense of the social and
economic justice our democracies demand.