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BackJoin us in asking MEPs to say NO to ISDS!
With the help of the newly designed platform www.no2isds.eu, you too can send out a signal and ask MEPs with only a few clicks to reject any special rights for foreign investors. The multilingual homepage (among other in German, English, French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Rumanian) offers a clear, graphically appealing and easy to use drop-down menu, in which you can create your own list of recipients in accordance with faction, country or individual name. Of course, you will also have the option of sending your message to all 751 Members of Parliament.
The (trilingual) e-mail message to Parliamentarians initiated by you consists of a short explanation and the promise you ask your representatives of the people to make:
“I reject special rights for foreign investors and in particular any investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in TTIP. I will vote against any resolution that fails to firmly reject special rights for foreign investors and an investor-state dispute settlement.”
Clear overview which MEPs take a stand against ISDS
If an MEP decides that he/she wants to make this promise to you, he/she is able inform you via a hyperlink. A list under www.no2isds.eu tells you that the representative of the people rejects ISDS; consequently he/she does no longer receive any email requests of NO 2 ISDS. A counter also provides you with an overview as to how many Members of Parliament have already come out against the unfair rights to sue for foreign investors. The campaign has the support of trade unions and civil society organisations, among them UNI Europa (European trade union federation for services and communication), EPSU (European Federation of Public Service Unions) and attac.
Important votes are due
On 28 May the Trade Committee in charge of TTIP will adopt a resolution, which shall be put to the vote in the plenum a few days later. Even though it is not legally binding, the text to be adopted has great political significance: Parliament has to agree to the Free Trade Agreement as soon as it is available. However, as it is not integrated in the negotiations led by the Commission, it has prior to the “all or nothing” vote on TTIP no direct opportunities to influence the drafting of the contents. Hence, in this situation, a resolution represents an important signal: Parliament is able to clearly show its preferences. If these are not taken into consideration by the negotiators, the latter have to expect that Parliament rejects TTIP. In view of the year-long efforts made to achieve such an agreement, it would be unwise of the Commission to ignore the - legally not yet (!) binding - vote of the European Parliament.
ISDS out of control: danger to democracy and the rule of law
ISDS allows foreign investors to bypass national courts and to sue states directly before private ad-hoc arbitration courts. This enables them to legally proceed against laws, which previously had been adopted by sovereign states - using the argument that the value of their investments was in danger. In this way, the possibilities of democracies to sufficiently protect important concerns of society, for example labour rights or health protection are curtailed. Apart from that, the disputes between states and investors will be regulated by private business lawyers away from the public.
From a democratic point of view, ISDS is fundamentally inacceptable as it grants foreign investors greater proprietary rights than the rest of society plus providing them with the opportunity to bypass national courts. This puts our rule of law into question. Private arbitration courts exclusively benefit well paid solicitors and arbitrators as well as foreign investors, who are able to ward off any “unpleasant” regulations that way.
It is therefore also in your interest to say NO to ISDS and to ask our Members of Parliament to vote against the dangerous plans of the Commission.
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