PEOPLE’S NEWS pm News Digest of the People’s Movement www.people.ie | [email protected] No. 132 20 September 2015 What chance of stopping TTIP and the investment dispute settlement provisions CETA? (ISDS) in EU trade agreements with third countries are entirely consistent with EU law. It is too early to ask for an opinion from the ECJ with regard to TTIP. An opinion can be asked only after a treaty is negotiated, but before it is in force. CETA is at present undergoing “legal scrubbing” but will soon be past the point at which EU judges can be asked. So it looks as if there’s no way out here unless the EU Parliament acts. The Parliament would have to back a resolution by a majority to ask for an opinion. Could some competent body ask the EU Court At the moment that would have a fair chance of Justice for an opinion on whether the of passing, and would have the advantage of proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment delaying TTIP and CETA, facilitating the growth Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic of further opposition. and Trade Agreement (between the EU and Canada) are compatible with EU law, or whether the EU has the competence (legal right) to enter into such treaties? Only major EU institutions and individual member-states can ask the ECJ for an opinion on a point of EU law in this case. Compatibility with, and competence under, the EU treaties can be two separate justifications for such a request. EU officials have confirmed that they had no plan to also ask EU judges if rulings by inter- national arbitration tribunals could undermine The final treaty would have to be approved the ECJ’s role as sole and supreme arbiter of EU by a majority in the EU Parliament, and there is law. Trade deals between the EU and non-EU some hope here. The three Sinn Féin members countries, they say, would not result in as well as Luke “Ming” Flanagan and Nessa international tribunals interpreting or applying Childers look as if they will oppose the EU law but depend rather on the provisions of agreements if they include ISDS. In the event the trade agreement itself. that ISDS is removed the position is not so Hence, in the opinion of the Commission, clear, and there is a real possibility that ISDS may be sacrificed in the short term—given the Well, the Government is not going to give us emphasis placed on it by those opposed—in one voluntarily. That leaves recourse to the order to ensure acceptance of the treaties. courts—an expensive business. That leaves Seán Kelly (Fine Gael), who is a But in the “Declaration Concerning member of the Trade Committee and even Primacy” of the Lisbon Treaty it is noted that, in wants the secret ISDS courts to be established accordance with well-settled case law of the in Ireland. He’s a point man for the EPP on the ECJ, the treaties and the law adopted by the committee, and he would be hard to budge. Union on the basis of the treaties have primacy Brian Hayes, Deirdre Clune and Mairéad over the law of member-states, under the McGuinness are the other Fine Gael members. conditions laid down by the said case law. McGuinness is closely identified with the large Furthermore, the Treaty on European Union farming community and must be open to under the Lisbon Treaty states that the Union pressure, given the potential loss to farmers. will have legal personality, which alters the Brian Crowley (Fianna Fáil) has a whopping legal relationship between the EU and its majority but has shown that he is prepared to member-states, allowing it to represent them in threaten to break with his party if necessary. He international negotiations. It also abolished the would probably be worth a strong lobbying existing European Community, which Ireland effort. Marian Harkin would appear to be joined in 1973, and transferred all its powers happy enough if there are schemes for and functions to the constitutionally new compensating farmers for losses resulting from European Union, to which the Lisbon Treaty the deals. She will be a long time waiting, and gave legal personality. It made the EU an so is also a potential ally. international entity in its own right, with its The oft-repeated statements of the EU own legal personality and independent corp- Commission that every member-state will have orate existence, separate from (and superior a say in accepting the treaties seems to point to) its members. towards a vote in the Council of Ministers, So a legal case would at best delay the where each member-state is represented. process, as it would have little chance of There is no doubt that there would be accept- success, given the provisions of the Lisbon ance in that forum. Treaty. The new provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon The best bet would be to persuade a couple for qualified majority voting in the EU Council of MEPs, the best possibilities being Marian of Ministers came into force last November. For Harkin and Brian Crowley. making EU laws a qualified majority now So the answer to the question is, We’ll only consists of 15 of the 28 member-states, as long know when we try! as those 15 represent 65 per cent of the total EU population of some 500 million people. A safe pair of hands Under this system, Germany has 16 per A former Fine Gael senator, Eugene Regan, has cent of the aggregate vote (compared with 8 been nominated by the Government for per cent under the previous system), Britain, appointment as a judge of the EU Court of France and Italy have 12 per cent each Justice. From 1985 to 1988 he was a member (compared with 8 per cent previously), while of the cabinet of the EU commissioner Peter Ireland has 0.8 per cent (compared with 2 per Sutherland, and from 2007 to 2011 he was a cent before the Lisbon Treaty). Not much Fine Gael senator. chance of significant Irish influence there! When people think of Peter Sutherland And what are the chances of a referendum? 2 they immediately link him with Goldman Sachs ments and those to come forward to present an and his role as chairman of Goldman Sachs argument, if only to get on the telly.” International. Regan has served as a non- The Supreme Court’s judgement in the executive director of the bank. In fact he is a Coughlan case ruled that party political non-executive director of twenty-seven broadcasts on both sides of a referendum separate Goldman Sachs funds, as well as debate should be given equal air time. retaining an interest in a number of asset management companies, one of which is based Euro-zone governments have recovered in the Cayman Islands. less than half of bank aid When Regan contested the general election Reuters news agency writes that, according to in 2007, Garret Fitzgerald endorsed his the ECB’s latest economic bulletin, euro-zone candidacy; so did Alan Dukes, the chairman- governments have recovered about 40 per cent designate of Anglo-Irish Bank. These endorse- of the aid given to banks since the financial ments were no mean feat for a relatively crisis, which is low by historical standards after unknown politician. this time. At the time Regan was a councillor in Dún Fully one-fifth of the increase in euro-zone Laoghaire. He had been elected to the council government debt since 2008 is due to bank aid. in 2004, having reputedly spent €45,000 to The ECB also warns that there are out- secure his election. This is about four times the standing guarantees of 2.7 per cent of euro- average expenditure of candidates in that zone GDP, posing an additional risk to public electoral area. But neither his money nor his finances. Recovery rates are particularly low in connections convinced the good people of Dún Ireland, Cyprus and Portugal and are high in the Laoghaire to elect Regan to Dáil Éireann. Netherlands. The biggest debt increases on During the second referendum on the bank aid were in Ireland and Greece, both Lisbon Treaty in 2009, Regan said that the above 22 per cent, with France, Italy and referendum campaign of 2008 had shown that Lithuania having the smallest, at less than 1 per the 50-50 requirement had destroyed informed cent. debate. “It … would be my view, that the 50/50 The report is said to advocate “appropriate” rule as it is presently applied, and was applied bail-ins of shareholders and bondholders to in the Lisbon Treaty referendum, actually reduce the future burden of bank aid on public distorts the debate. finances. “I think the view is it would be very difficult to get any referendum through on any subject Survey shows decline in British support under the rules where you have to find in all for staying in EU occasions a 50/50 split between the yes and no A recent opinion poll has shown that the arguments. It invites the most absurd argu- 3 number of British voters who would agree with in Budapest, reflected the German staying in the European Union in a referendum government’s true standpoint on the asylum- has fallen after the government agreed to seeker crisis. “The outer borders of the EU amend the wording of the question to be put to must be secured,” he declared. “The fence is voters. there, for the time being, to channel the flow, The prime minister, David Cameron, had to be able to supervise who crosses the border.