European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) supports the European decentralized day of mobilization against TTIP on the 11th of October. Food safety is one of the key contentious issues in the agricultural sector, together with the promotion of competition. The UE hygiene standards and labelling that allow us to trace food to its origin and to refuse the use of growth and milk hormones, and that also ban the use of some pesticides in Europe "are in serious danger from idea of the harmonisation and major lightening of sanitary standards". The same holds true for European small-scale farming: the removal of further trade barriers will promote competition by making it easier for EU countries and EU agri-business companies to mutually invest in each other’s economy . This will threaten and limit our past efforts to link consumers and farmers, as well as endangering local food systems and food sovereignty. The proposed EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will have a major impact on social, labour and environmental rights on both sides of the Atlantic, and will increase the liberalization of global trade and investment. For the agricultural sector, this trade deal will increase the power of agri-business corporations, thus undermining local food systems. The agreement is not the result of any democratic process, but rather of negotiations between lawyers, economists, civil servants, corporations and politicians . They have no democratic legitimacy. It is based on the domination of big corporations. The agenda is not public, nor is the process transparent. With this trade deal, more and more natural resources, goods and services will become privatised. ECVC is running an awareness raising campaign against the current EU and US bilateral trade negotiations. The aim is to alert policy decision-makers, citizens and media to the disastrous consequences in term of job loss, endangered democracy and damage to the environment of such a trade deal. ECVC Spokesperson on Trade Hanny Van Geel ( NL; EN): 0031613903434
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