THE WEEK THAT WAS... (November 27, 2013)

Announced as the biggest bilateral trade deal ever, if it succeeds, the EU and the US started negotiations in July to establish a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The deal would cover more than 40% of global GDP, would be worth €2billion of traded goods and services; and average European households would gain an extra €545 annually! Brussels and Washington set the ambitious goal of completing the negotiations before the end of next year. Now the European Commission fears for the EU’s relative economic weakness compared with the US and also the different opinions between and within the 28 memberstates which will be even more visible around the upcoming European Parliament elections next May. Reminiscence of the ACTA drama this anti-piracy treaty with the US was ultimately rejected by the European Parliament.

The EU-critical Danish publication Notat revealed that the Commission held a secret meeting on November 22 with representatives of the 28 EU member states. But the Commission has the solution; the EU needs a ‘radically different’ communication strategy on TTIP! It is vital that the EU speaks with one voice the Commission emphasised. It presented simultaneously a new website on TTIP with the primary purpose of informing smaller member states on how to communicate the trade negotiations to citizens. The Commission document states that ‘the aim is to define, at this early stage in the negotiations, the terms of the debate by communicating positively about what TTIP is about rather than being drawn reactively into defensive communication about what TTIP is not about’. In other words the Commission advices to talk more about gains and global leadership instead of concerns about weakening health, banking, data protection and food safety.

But don’t we need more attention for serious concerns of health campaigners, consumer groups and some trade-unions than another communication strategy?