The direct democratic struggle about free trade

How to reconcile people power with trade politics? This question is about to be answered by modern direct democracy – at the transnational level, says Bruno Kaufmann, editor-in chief of People2Power. A total of 3,263,920 signatures from 28 European Union member states. This impressive pile of statements of support from EU citizens was delivered to the European Commission on October 7. Their demand is two-fold: A hold on the so-called Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada, and, an immediate stop to the negotiations between the EU and the United States on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In both cases the sponsors and most supporters of the initiative see these free trade agreements (FTAs) as “a threat to democracy, the environment, consumers and labour standards”. Such accords across national borders have always triggered opposition and debate, in part because international trade politics ...