Record-Breaking Petition Against TTIP Reaches Two Million Signatures

The European Citizens' Initiative "Stop TTIP" has reached a new record number of signatures two days ahead of a critical vote on TTIP in the European parliament. With two million signatories, this is the largest European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) since the introduction of the instrument in 2012, even though the EU Commission has tried to block it.

The day after tomorrow, on 10 June 2015, the European Parliament will vote on a critical resolution concerning TTIP.

Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now said:

"Two million people demanding an end to the TTIP negotiations shows that the EU does not have the public mandate to continue this deal. People across Europe are standing up to protect our labour rights, our environmental standards and vital public services like the NHS from TTIP. Members of the European parliament must listen to the two million voices telling them to reject TTIP when voting on their position on the deal later this week."

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Michael Efler, member of Stop TTIP's Citizens' Committee commented:

"We call on the European Parliament to reject TTIP because it is a threat to our democracy as well as protection standards for labour rights, the environment and public health. At the very least, the European Parliament should take a clear stance against ISDS. All the improvements to ISDS that have been proposed by the European Commission and European Social Democrats are insufficient. The problem remains that ISDS would constitute a parallel justice system for investors that would be unnecessary, dangerous for democracy and could prove very costly for taxpayers. If no clear statement against ISDS is included in the resolution, the European Parliament would do better to reject it all together."

NOTE:

The petition has been promoted by an alliance of more than 470 civil society organisations - consumer watchdogs, environmental groups and trade unions - from across Europe. Signature collection will continue until 6 October to increase political pressure further. The largest ECIs so far were "Water is a Human Right" (2013) and "One of Us" (2013) with 1.8 million signatures each. The European Commission had rejected the Stop TTIP petition in autumn last year as an official ECI. The alliance is currently challenging this decision in the European Court of Justice and is meanwhile carrying out the ECI signature collection on a self-organised basis.