CETA Signed Off As Wallonia Folds Under Pressure (freezenet.ca)

Dangerous_Minds writes: The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been signed off. The government of Wallonia appeared to be holding off on the agreement, but has since folded under the pressure. Two days after Wallonia agreed to the trade deal, countries signed off on the agreement. The agreement contains provisions surrounding a three strikes law, a global DMCA, site blocking, and the hugely controversial ISDS provisions to name a few. The deal still needs to be ratified for these laws to take effect.

Comments

Signed Off?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this british english? What does that mean? It was cancelled? (Just kidding, I read the article). But, WTF? Signed off.

Re:Signed Off?

[phantomfive]

We use 'signed off' to mean 'approved' in America too, so......

Why is Slashdot anti-trade?

[Anonymous Coward]

This deal removes barriers to trade and will boost both economies significantly; with at least 22.9% increase worth €25.7 billion. See here.

Re:Why is Slashdot anti-trade?

[Anonymous Coward]

When companies can sue a country because polluting can yield bigger profits but the government opposes it, there's something really wrong with the world.

Re:Why is Slashdot anti-trade?

[knightghost]

Don't forget the $50 Billion in job losses to offset the $25 B in gains. We tried this crap with NAFTA etc and it only benefits the rich.

Re:Why is Slashdot anti-trade?

[r1348]

This kind of tribunals have been and will be used this way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Morris_v._Uruguay

Re:Why is Slashdot anti-trade?

[Tom]

You miss the point, I guess.

The opposition to the tribunals exists because it means any and all laws that are passed in the future will have to be inspected from a "possible impact on foreign trade" perspective. Member states can't pass an environmental protection law any more to protect the environment, it needs to be written so that it doesn't harm trade. They can't pass a workplace safety law anymore just to safe workers health and life, it has to be written so that it doesn't harm trade. Everything becomes a matter of international trade.

We already see the effect of this focus on the economy as the only god. In Germany, Schaeuble, the minister of finances, is without a doubt the most powerful minister and his opinion is asked and reported in the media on everything. Every law about work, immigration, foreign policy, health, education, literally everything. They made a law some years ago that forces the government to keep a balanced budget, and Schaeuble's "sorry, we don't have the money for this, and it would break the budget" can stop any law being discussed, no matter the subject.

The tribunals lead to self-censorship. Laws will be written so that they don't damage corporate interests. You will probably be proven right that the tribunals are actually called on very little - because their main effect is not in the trial, but in the chilling effect it causes.

ISDS is the end of the world as we know it

[Anonymous Coward]

Extrajudicial transnational corporate control of sovereign law and policy. "But it's only fines based on lost profits!" the proponents cry, like we haven't seen, for example, the MPAA making up imaginary multi-billion-dollar annual profits during piracy studies.

Re:ISDS = workers rights gone as big corps can say

[JaredOfEuropa]

And less-than-basic taxes to pay for them. Don't get me wrong, I live in one of them countries and enjoy universal health care, but it's not all good. For one, our health care system suffers from many of the problems that the USA also has, for example having a small group of far too powerful insurers driving up prices. And our health care is expensive, while the premiums are affordable... or appear to be. According to some figures, our health care is one of the most expensive ones in the world (as % of GNP), but only 1.5% of that is paid for directly by patients, and few countries enjoy health care that cheap. But we pay a lot indirectly... in a pretty average middle class family where both mom and dad work, as much as 1/4 of their wages goes to health care indirectly, through income tax.

Oh and back to the topic at hand: Wallonia didn't "fold under pressure", the politician holdouts never had the intention of letting CETA tank; they simply saw this as an opportunity to wrangle out a couple of nice concessions for the region. Probably a few exemptions or some extra regional aid out of Brussels... and under the table, perhaps a few cushy jobs for the polticians themselves a few years down the line. It wouldn't be the first time such deals were made.

That's pretty much mass starvation

[rsilvergun]

and nothing else. You can literally do anything else. And you can squeeze as hard as you want on 10% of the population. The US used to do it to black folks, India to the "untouchables", Japan to Islanders and the Chinese/Koreans, etc, etc.

The 1% have long since learned how hard they can squeeze. What few wars break out are when one member of the 1% pisses off another. We moved on Iraq so we could move on Afghanistan too. We did that so we could build an oil pipeline the Afghanistan gov't opposed.

Don't wait for the revolution. It's not coming. Do something about wealth inequality now before it drags you down.