Re:TTIP Secret trade deal can only be read in secure 'readin...
by acqq on Monday August 17, 2015 @05:56PM
(#10076405)
My understanding is that after the treaty is negotiated, the parliaments can just vote "yes" or "no" for the "whole package" (with the pressure to yes, as in "hey we've spent years to negotiate it!").
Re:TTIP Secret trade deal can only be read in secure 'readin...
by tptacek on Monday August 17, 2015 @06:03PM
(#10076439)
That is correct. Legislatures do not get line-item veto over trade agreements.
The agreement itself is public, usually for several months, prior to that vote.
I'm not sure why I'm meant to care about the "pressure" legislators feel to vote one way or the other on the acts. That's their job. They begged to have that job. They don't get to make excuses.
The negotiating documents --- the early drafts of the treaty, which are not binding --- are certainly not public. They are closely guarded secrets; that secrecy exists to protect the "integrity" of the negotiating process, for a very narrow definition of "integrity" that mostly means "minimized direct lobbying".
But the treaties themselves have to be ratified to become binding law. They are published, for public review, before that happens.
Wikileaks is effectively asking for people to leak the negotiating documents.