ARTICLE
Social Issues in the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership Negotiations
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Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie
Publication date: 2015-06-30
Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations 2015;51(2):231-254
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ABSTRACT
The article titled Social Issues in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
Negotiations discusses selected issues that are subject to bilateral negotiations
from the angle of the interests of citizens and consumers in the European Union
and the United States. The main emphasis was placed on regulatory differences
in the social sphere between the European and American markets, which concern,
for instance, security and health protection standards, worker rights, as well as
standards for environmental protection and movement of people.
Furthermore, the article broadly discusses the problem of the arbitration
mechanism between states and investors (ISDS), which gives rise to considerable
controversy during the negotiations, especially on the part of the opponents of
TTIP. Those opponents believe that this instrument could constitute a threat
to the functioning of European rules on social services and health protection
because American investors show particular interest in taking advantage of these
procedures to protect their interests in these areas. There is concern that including
ISDS in TTIP will in fact limit EU’s sovereignty in adopting higher standards of
health and environmental protection or worker rights.
The last of the issues presented in the text is free movement of natural persons
between the EU and the US markets. This problem concerns especially some EU
Member States, such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus, which remain
outside the US Visa Waiver programme. TTIP proposes that the applicable
regulations should govern primarily the movement of workers within transnational
corporations and liberal professions.
As a matter of fact, social issues could decisive for the outcome of the
negotiations. The sense of threat and the vision of the lack of protection of social
privileges and rights could effectively halt the process of accepting the agreement
both in the EU Member States and in the United States.