Tens of thousands of people on Saturday protested in European cities against planned free-trade deals with the US and Canada, which they say would undermine democracy and lower food safety, environmental and labor standards.
Organizers — an alliance of environmental groups, labor unions and opposition parties — said 320,000 people took part in rallies in seven German cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt. Police put the figure at about 180,000.
Smaller protests were also planned in other European cities, including Vienna and Salzburg in Austria, and Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden.
Photo: AFP
In Berlin, demonstrators waved banners reading “STOPP CETA — STOPP TTIP,” while another placard said “People over profits.”
The demonstrations are against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US and the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada, currently being negotiated by the EU’s executive branch with the respective governments across the Atlantic.
Opposition in Europe to the trade deals has risen over the past year, with critics saying the pacts would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers by establishing arbitration courts to settle disputes between companies and governments.
EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom defended the planned trade deals and accused the opponents of deliberately heating up the debate with “horror stories and lies.”
“The idea that TTIP will lower environmental standards is simply not true,” Malmstrom told German daily Bild. “Also, the assertion that we’ll be flooded with genetically modified food is simply wrong. Our democracy of course won’t be undermined as some seem to believe.”
Malmstrom said German exporters would benefit highly from the deals, because they would reduce nontariff barriers to trade.
“This helps Germany and creates jobs,” she added.
German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel, who faces a crunch CETA vote today by his Social Democrats (SPD), said that the trade agreements were Europe’s best chance to shape globalization so that it serves people and not only the interests of a few businesses.
“If CETA fails, then we’ll not have another chance to shape globalization in this way for decades,” Gabriel told Bild am Sonntag in an interview published on Saturday. “Europe still is the biggest trading region in the world. We should use this power.”
Gabriel’s SPD, a junior coalition partner of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, is to vote today on whether to back the trade deal between the EU and Canada.
Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor and SPD leader, has championed CETA as part of his remit as economy minister, and to demonstrate the center-left party’s business credentials.
However, critics in the SPD’s left wing are skeptical about the benefits of the deal and believe it would give multinationals greater access to European markets without creating jobs.
A failure to secure a majority of delegates at today’s SPD convention in favor of the accord could scupper Gabriel’s chances of standing as the party’s candidate for chancellor next year.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number