WHAT: Representatives from the Council of Canadians will be in Belgium next week to participate in a week-long transatlantic civil society dialogue, including European and U.S. trade justice, labour, environmental, consumer and other organizations.
WHO: Council of Canadians’ Executive Director Garry Neil and Trade Campaigner Stuart Trew
WHEN: Monday, March 10 to Friday, March 14, 2014
WHY: The Council will share what the organization knows about the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), as it probably foreshadows the pitfalls of the proposed EU-U.S. trade deal, in particular in the investor “rights” chapter. There is major opposition to investor-state dispute settlement in Europe, with a near consensus outside the big business lobbies and the Commission that there is no place for it in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) or CETA. In September 2013, Neil delivered more than 5,000 petitions from Canadians to the President of the European Parliament opposing the investment chapter in CETA.
Following the events in Brussels, Trew will travel to Berlin for meetings in the Bundestag on CETA, the TTIP and the environment.
The Council is a member of the Trade Justice Network, which has coordinated several previous trips to Brussels to help strengthen transatlantic resistance to CETA.
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canadians.org/ceta | Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs
