Atlantic Trade and Investment Participation (TTIP) has become popular in recent years. It's not a new thing, though. Some 20 years ago a number of multinational companies, supported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), tried to launch the MAI (Multilateral Investment Agreement), but after strong opposition the multinational project faded. The attempt was left in nothing, but with the intention of returning.

The European Commission is continuing to negotiate the TTIP, but some of the strong members of that institution, such as the French State Government or the German Social Democratic Party, say that these negotiations must now be brought to an end. However, look, next year you have the general elections in those two countries and you know that there are a lot of people who are against TTIP, and at the moment they are not interested in continuing to negotiate. It is therefore likely that, after those elections, they will intend to move forward again.

In addition, a very similar agreement, also clandestine, between Canada and the European Union (EU) is scheduled to be signed next October. If this agreement is signed, the doors will be opened to the United States to market its goods and services in the EU, the United States will have the doors open to enter the EU from Canada, as these two countries, together with Mexico, are members of NAFTA. However, Canada will be the Trojan horse in the EU and we will suffer the invasion of US goods and services in these territories, to the detriment of their quality, workers and environmental protection. Furthermore, they also want us to remove the designation of origin.

Before the summer, we heard from a Basque Government advisor that the Basque industry would improve after the adoption of the TTIP and that it should be implemented as soon as possible. On the occasion of the CAV elections, it would be appropriate to discuss the TTIP and adopt a resolution as soon as the new Parliament is established, as has already been done in Walonia. It will be symbolic, but the position of each party will be transparent to judge the serious consequences that we will suffer in the medium and long term.

I don't know where our counselor got those things from. We know that border taxes are currently of little importance. Conventional goods do not exceed 2%. Agricultural goods enjoy greater protection upon entry into the EU and if these taxes are abolished, they will become the small European farmer and worse in Basque agriculture. In fact, when Mexico joined the United States and Canada, after the creation of NAFTA in 1995, two and a half million small farmers had to leave their maize fields and migrate to the cities, because it sells subsidised maize from the United States in Mexico.

On the other hand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made several approaches to learn about the economic impact of TTIP. According to two scenarios, the EU is losing out. In the first scenario, with lower tariffs, US exports would increase by USD 5.5 billion and EU exports by USD 800 million. Once all tax and trade barriers were removed, US exports would increase by US$10 billion and EU exports by US$2 billion. It is obvious who will win.

The US multinationals complain that it must be shown that US medicines do not affect health when they are sold in the EU, according to the regulations. In the United States, however, the person concerned has to prove that any good or medicine is harmful to his or her health. It is therefore a question of introducing this second method among us, avoiding the European prevention system.

Likewise, our democratic system or the democratic deficit that remains for us will be affected and that management will be carried out by the multinationals: if a government takes measures to protect the citizens, they will calculate the “lost benefit” that these measures will generate and that government will have to pay large companies with its budgets. The jurists of prestigious law firms will be appointed non-professional judges to resolve conflicts between democratic governments and large companies. The theory of the separation of powers of Montesquieu is therefore going to take on the multinationals.

Surely, at the moment, the TTIP negotiations will fade and for Barack Obama it will be a tremendous defeat, but in a short time, again, we will be on the table, because the enemy never sleeps.