Tens of thousands protest TTIP in Rome
Tele Sur | 8 May 2016
Tens of thousands protest TTIP in Rome
EU support of the Transatlantic free trade deal is steadily dropping, especially after Greenpeace Netherlands leaked portions of the agreement.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the Roman streets Saturday to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Holding signs that said "Stop TTIP" and "Not capital, but people,"it seems many Italians have decided that the trade agreement is not for them. Critics say that the document will erode protections in food law, environmental regulation, banking regulation, and other areas.
On May 2, Greenpeace Amsterdam released TTIP documents that were given to the organization by an unknown source.
"These documents make clear the scale and scope of the trade citizens of the United States and the European Union are being asked to make in pursuit of corporate profits. It is time for the negotiations to stop, and the debate to begin," Sylvia Borren, Executive Director Greenpeace Netherlands, said in a statement.
According to images taken by RT, many protesters held signs adorned with Greenpeace’s logo. Although the environmental organization has been vocal in its opposition to TTIP from the beginning, it would seem that the leak had an effect.
Negotiations between Washington and Brussels have been secretive, with only a trickle of reliable information coming out. Now that Greenpeace has made many documents available to the public, many are convinced that it’s a bad deal.
Eurobarometer, an EU polling site, found in January that those in favor of TTIP had been declining, with opposition rising. The most recent poll conducted by German broadcaster ARD revealed that 70 percent of Germans oppose the trade treaty.Only 18 percent of the U.S. believes TTIP is a good thing, compared to a sizable 53 percent in 2014, RT reports.
