Montreal-based Council of Canadians trade campaigner Sujata Dey is at the #TTIPalarm Festival in Amsterdam today.
The Facebook promotion for the event says, “The Big #TTIPalarm Festival is the first of its kind. A gathering of good people with art, lectures, workshops and delicious TTIP-free food, coming together to resist the unfair trade agreements threatening democracy. Together we will learn about the kind of trade that contributes to a sustainable world, and how we can defend ourselves against TTIP and CETA. With leading figures from the international Stop TTIP movement like John Hilary and Nick Dearden, and concerned Dutch celebrities and music!”
This morning Dey has tweeted:
– The brilliant Dutch #TTIPalarm Festival is starting in Amsterdam
– Inspiring protests against #CETA and #TTIP at #TTIPalarm festival in Amsterdam
– John Hillary from War on Want says that #CETA can be beat: the challenge is to make sure it goes thru national parliaments
– Free trade agreements part of failed neo-liberal experiments, says University of Amsterdam professor at #TTIPalarm festival #CETA
For more, please go to @sujata_dey and #TTIPalarm.
The President of the Council of the European Union is currently Mark Rutte, the prime minister of The Netherlands. Unfortunately, at a speech on March 31 in Washington, Rutte stated, “We can bolster our market by linking it to North America and its vast market of nearly 500 million American, Canadian and Mexican consumers. …The EU and Canada recently concluded the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, and the TTIP negotiations with the US are progressing. President Obama has submitted the Trans Pacific Partnership to Congress. This is an extra incentive for us to reach agreement quickly.”
But there is mounting opposition to CETA and TTIP in The Netherlands.
In October 2015, more than 7,000 people took to the streets of Amsterdam to march against CETA and TTIP.
In April, NL Times reported, “Opponents of the US-EU trade deal TTIP and the Canadian version CETA are now also trying to get a referendum vote on this issue. An online petition for a TTIP Referendum already has more than 75,000 signatures. A total of 600,000 signatures are needed for a referendum. The petition was launched by organizations Meer Democratie, Mileudefense (the Dutch Friends of the Earth), foodwatch and the Transnational Institute.”
And at this point, 124,826 people in The Netherlands have signed the European Initiative Against TTIP and CETA petition that calls on the institutions of the European Union and its member states not to ratify CETA.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to be in Brussels on October 27 for a special Canada-European Union summit ceremony to sign CETA.
A vote on CETA in the European Parliament is expected later this year or in early 2017.
For more on our campaign to stop CETA, click here.
