Opposition to the TTIP in the EU and the US: Implications for the EU’s “democratic deficit”

Buonanno, Laurie and Dudek, Carolyn Marie (2015) Opposition to the TTIP in the EU and the US: Implications for the EU’s “democratic deficit”. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Since ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament’s (EP) newly conferred power in international negotiations is being put to the test through the complex and lengthy negotiations between the EU and the US for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTIP represents a fruitful area to investigate the way in which the EP is utilizing (or underutilizing) its new power as well as implications for the EU’s democratic deficit. TTIP represents a particularly fruitful policy to study the EP’s power because it offers the ability to directly compare the EP’s behavior with that of the US Congress. This is so because both legislatures need to assert their authority during the course of TTIP negotiations given mutual limitations of an up or down vote (consent procedure in the EP, fast-track/Trade Promotion Authority in the US Congress). This paper utilizes three controversial areas within each of the three broad negotiating areas of the TTIP – genetically modified organisms (market access), Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (regulations) and Investor State Settlement Disputes (rules) to explore the role of the EP. Preliminary results suggest that powers conferred in the Lisbon Treaty to the EP with respect to international negotiations are positively addressing the EU’s democratic deficit, at least in the case of transatlantic economic relations.

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