Karel De Gucht, EU trade commissioner, makes an astounding claim when he says there is nothing secretive about negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP (Response, 18 December). Yes, in a recent bid to appear more transparent the European commission has released more press briefings and held meetings with civil society organisations, but secrecy over the substance of the treaty remains. There is, for instance, no access to the text of the TTIP itself. Even British MPs are not privy to this. This is evident in the only House of Commons debate so far on the economic implications of the TTIP. Records of the debate reveal that MPs were unable to establish the mandate for the treaty or what was happening in the negotiations. This suggests not only secrecy but something deeply undemocratic about these negotiations.
*Jan Savage*
London
• Perhaps Karel De Gucht could tell us how many of the 350 participants at the recent civil society meeting on the EU-US trade deal were from business? This deal favours corporate interests over public services, democracy and the environment.
*Polly Jones*
World Development Movement
• Mr De Gucht tells us not to worry that transnational companies will get even greater power over our affairs, because there could be £100bn growth in Europe, which of course means jobs. We're always promised lots of jobs when such deals are being steamrollered though. This rather reminds me of Donald Trump's deal with the Scottish government to build a golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast, promising billions in investment and lots of jobs in exchange for the destruction of a site of special scientific importance (SSSI). The SSSI has indeed been destroyed but the promised investment and jobs, to my knowledge, have never materialised.
Maybe this negotiation is not secret but, so far as most of the British media are concerned, it might as well be. Perhaps, if De Gucht's assurances are to be believed, the TTIP will not turn out to be quite so malign as George Monbiot (Comment, 3 December) suspects. But I remain sceptical. I can't imagine that our present neoliberal coalition government will do other than welcome the TTIP and hence make no great effort to inform or consult with the British public. It hasn't so far.
In a few months' time, assuming the imminent "gagging law" comes into effect without substantive amendment, any further debate or opposition will be effectively stifled. De Gucht concludes by saying that we should focus on the facts; unfortunately one man's facts are another man's poison and it may turn out that the British public – not to mention our European fellows – will have been well and truly fracked.
*Peter Wilkinson*
London
• Karel De Gucht, the EU trade commissioner, says "the arbitrators who decide on EU cases must be above suspicion". Where is he going to find these sea-green incorruptibles? They will almost certainly be establishment figures who tend to side with the big vested interests keeping them in employment.
The bribery and corruption scandals at Fifa and the Olympics show how easy it is for multinationals to offer inducements to friends and family of these arbiters; such as fully funded free scholarships, fact-finding missions plus all expenses to exotic destinations.
If I had my druthers, all international trade agreements would be Fairtrade, with all products traded to be produced ethically and sustainably, with all labour free to join trade unions to protect working conditions, preferably produced by co-operatives. Ah well, no harm in dreaming!
*Richard Saddington*
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
• Martin Kettle rehashes that old chestnut about welfare reform being the key solution to Europe's woes (We can't rely on Merkel to sort out Europe's problems, Comment, 19 December). He quotes Angela Merkel as saying Europe has 7% of the world's population, 25% of its income and 50% of its welfare spending. The reason Europe has such a high welfare budget is that it is a social democracy and that is what the people want; unlike the rest of the world in which few countries have any welfare scheme at all. Do Kettle and Merkel want a Europe in which old age means poverty and in which healthcare bills can impoverish even the best paid? In other words the abysmal welfare scheme of the US. Last week I had an electrician working at my house who was complaining about the pension changes. He will have to work to 66 to get his pension and, he asked, how will the roofers cope with having to work to 70?
*Derrick Joad*
Leeds Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
*Jan Savage*
London
• Perhaps Karel De Gucht could tell us how many of the 350 participants at the recent civil society meeting on the EU-US trade deal were from business? This deal favours corporate interests over public services, democracy and the environment.
*Polly Jones*
World Development Movement
• Mr De Gucht tells us not to worry that transnational companies will get even greater power over our affairs, because there could be £100bn growth in Europe, which of course means jobs. We're always promised lots of jobs when such deals are being steamrollered though. This rather reminds me of Donald Trump's deal with the Scottish government to build a golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast, promising billions in investment and lots of jobs in exchange for the destruction of a site of special scientific importance (SSSI). The SSSI has indeed been destroyed but the promised investment and jobs, to my knowledge, have never materialised.
Maybe this negotiation is not secret but, so far as most of the British media are concerned, it might as well be. Perhaps, if De Gucht's assurances are to be believed, the TTIP will not turn out to be quite so malign as George Monbiot (Comment, 3 December) suspects. But I remain sceptical. I can't imagine that our present neoliberal coalition government will do other than welcome the TTIP and hence make no great effort to inform or consult with the British public. It hasn't so far.
In a few months' time, assuming the imminent "gagging law" comes into effect without substantive amendment, any further debate or opposition will be effectively stifled. De Gucht concludes by saying that we should focus on the facts; unfortunately one man's facts are another man's poison and it may turn out that the British public – not to mention our European fellows – will have been well and truly fracked.
*Peter Wilkinson*
London
• Karel De Gucht, the EU trade commissioner, says "the arbitrators who decide on EU cases must be above suspicion". Where is he going to find these sea-green incorruptibles? They will almost certainly be establishment figures who tend to side with the big vested interests keeping them in employment.
The bribery and corruption scandals at Fifa and the Olympics show how easy it is for multinationals to offer inducements to friends and family of these arbiters; such as fully funded free scholarships, fact-finding missions plus all expenses to exotic destinations.
If I had my druthers, all international trade agreements would be Fairtrade, with all products traded to be produced ethically and sustainably, with all labour free to join trade unions to protect working conditions, preferably produced by co-operatives. Ah well, no harm in dreaming!
*Richard Saddington*
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
• Martin Kettle rehashes that old chestnut about welfare reform being the key solution to Europe's woes (We can't rely on Merkel to sort out Europe's problems, Comment, 19 December). He quotes Angela Merkel as saying Europe has 7% of the world's population, 25% of its income and 50% of its welfare spending. The reason Europe has such a high welfare budget is that it is a social democracy and that is what the people want; unlike the rest of the world in which few countries have any welfare scheme at all. Do Kettle and Merkel want a Europe in which old age means poverty and in which healthcare bills can impoverish even the best paid? In other words the abysmal welfare scheme of the US. Last week I had an electrician working at my house who was complaining about the pension changes. He will have to work to 66 to get his pension and, he asked, how will the roofers cope with having to work to 70?
*Derrick Joad*
Leeds Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.