Fast Track Signed by Obama

no fast track
(photo credit: Photo: Backbone Campaign/flickr/cc)

On June 29th US president Barack Obama signed Fast Track, also known as the Trade Promotion Authority. This follows the vote on 23rd June  – by the narrowest of margins possible – in the US Senate to approve the controversial procedure. Fast Track establishes a process to rush (expedite) votes through Congress.

This means there will be no amendments and very limited debate for either TPP or TTIP in the US Congress. “Congress has forfeited its right to amend any international trade agreement for the next six years; all it can do is vote the proposed agreement up or down” the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) reveal.

This extraordinary surrender of congressional authority will also be available for the next as yet unknown US President.

Karen Hansen-Kuhn (IATP) adds “Fast Track… was first created during the Nixon administration, and has been granted for a total of only five years in the last two decades. It last expired in 2007. Much of the focus in the media has been on TPP, since that agreement is closer to completion, but Fast Track would cover TTIP as well. It would extend for six years, so well into the completely unknown terrain of the next presidential administration, which might decide to enter into other trade deals.”

Obama needed and received exactly 60 votes in the Senate to allow him sign the Fast Track bill on 29th June.

Friends of the Earth International state that “Fast Track is widely opposed by the environmental community and broad swaths of civil society, including labor, civil rights, family farm, food safety, Internet freedom, senior citizen, public health and consumer advocates.”

The process for TPP in the US now is as follows:

1) Once negotiations are complete, TPP goes to Obama to be initialed
2) 90 day period after the initialing until Obama signs the TPP
3) After signing, the TPP is introduced into Congress
4) 30 days after signing, TPP is to be made public for 60 days
5) Congress has a maximum of 90 days before up/down vote

Meanwhile in the European Parliament, the disarray caused by the failure to hold a Plenary vote on the 10th June continues.

The Parliament’s INTA (Trade) Committee also voted on 29th June on the admissibility of the amendments, separate votes and split votes.  All were approved with a wide majority with votes coming from all political groups.

inta

Now the conference of Presidents has to decide this Thursday if it includes the TTIP debate and vote in the agenda of July, September or October.

INTA Press Release [FR]

Letter from more than 2,000 civil society groups opposing Fast Track

Letter from 44 environmental groups opposing Fast Track

$200 million to Senators in Fast Track vote

More

Arc2020 briefing notes on TTIP (updated)

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About Oliver Moore 210 Articles

Dr. Oliver Moore is the communications director and editor-in-chief with ARC2020. He has a PhD in the sociology of farming and food, where he specialised in organics and direct sales. He is published in the International Journal of Consumer Studies, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology and the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. A weekly columnist and contributor with Irish Examiner, he is a regular on Countrywide (Irish farm radio show on the national broadcaster RTE 1) and engages in other communications work around agri-food and rural issues, such as with the soil, permaculture, climate change adaptation and citizen science initiative Grow Observatory . He lectures part time in the Centre for Co-operative Studies UCC.

A propos d'Oliver Moore
Oliver voyage beaucoup moins qu’auparavant, pour ce qui concerne son activité professionnelle. Il peut néanmoins admirer par la fenêtre de son bureau les mésanges charbonnières et les corbeaux perchés au sommet du saule dans le jardin de sa maison au cœur de l’écovillage de Cloughjordan, en Irlande. L’écovillage est un site de 67 acres dans le nord du Tipperary. Il comprend d’espaces boisés, des paysages comestibles, des lieux de vie, d’habitation et de travail, ainsi qu’une ferme appartenant à la communauté. Les jours où il travaille dans le bureau du centre d’entreprise communautaire, il profite d’une vue sur les chevaux, les panneaux solaires, les toilettes sèches et les jardins familiaux. 

Ce bureau au sein de l’écovillage constitue en effet un tiers-lieu de travail accueillant également des collaborateurs des associations Cultivate et Ecolise, ainsi qu’un laboratoire de fabrication (« fab lab »). 

Oliver est membre du conseil d’administration de la ferme communautaire (pour la seconde fois !) et donne également des cours sur le Master en coopératives, agroalimentaire et développement durable à l’University College Cork. Il a une formation en sociologie rurale : son doctorat et les articles qu’il publie dans des journaux scientifiques portent sur ce domaine au sens large.

Il consacre la majorité de son temps de travail à l’ARC 2020. Il collabore avec ARC depuis 2013, date à laquelle l’Irlande a assuré la présidence de l’UE pendant six mois. C’est là qu’il a pu constater l’importance de la politique agroalimentaire et rurale grâce à sa chronique hebdomadaire sur le site d’ARC. Après six mois, il est nommé rédacteur en chef et responsable de la communication, poste qu’il occupe toujours aujourd’hui. Oliver supervise le contenu du site web et des médias sociaux, aide à définir l’orientation de l’organisation et parfois même rédige un article pour le site web. 

À l’époque où on voyageait davantage, il a eu la chance de passer du temps sous les tropiques, où il a aidé des ONG irlandaises de commerce équitable – au Ghana, au Kenya, au Mali, en Inde et au Salvador – à raconter leur histoire.

Il se peut que ces jours-là reviennent. Pour son compte Oliver continuera de préférer naviguer en Europe par bateau, puis en train. Après tout, la France n’est qu’à une nuit de navigation. En attendant, il y a toujours de nombreuses possibilités de bénévolat dans la communauté dans les campagnes du centre de l’Irlande.