[Από τη διαδήλωση στη Μαδρίτη]
On April 18th, Europe felt more united. Citizens all over Europe organized in hundreds of activities, flooded the squares of their cities to send a common and clear message to European politicians:
NO MORE TRADE AGREEMENTS AT THE EXPENSES OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS!
The discontent towards free trade agreements worldwide is increasing, as information on the dangerous consequences of currently negotiated agreements (TTIP, TISA, CETA) is spreading. Not surprisingly, the lack of transparency and the constant flirting with lobby groups representing the interests of multinational corporations, has weakened the credibility of the European Commission.
The Commission itself introduced the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) as a tool of participatory democracy to assure that people´s voice will be influential in decision making. However, as the case of the STOP-TTIP ECI shows, instead of attempting to foster the interests of their citizens and establish a democratic dialogue, the Commission and its crew of technocrats are continuing the negotiations for a transatlantic agreement despite the warnings from experts that have estimated loss of jobs, environmental deterioration and the weakening of the states vis-à-vis private companies.
There is one reason though that we should be thankful to Juncker, his predecessors and the Obama administration. That they brought us all together around a legitimate cause as on the 18th of April and as it does every day when thousands of signatures are sent from all countries to support the STOP-TTIP ECI.
The number of signatures is growing daily and the support from citizens and civil society is increasing. The Global Day of Action is only an intermediate stop to the path of our final common goal of stopping TTIP. As the images from different events in all the countries show, only through solidarity and common actions we can achieve our goal. We all together are the inspiration we need to make changes for our common good and to restore democracy in the European Institutions.
Spread the word and share the signature page that you find on https://stop-ttip.org/sign so more people can inform themselves and sign the ECI. We have time until October 6th to show our politicians that the environment and their citizens’ rights are far more important than the profits of a group of companies. It is not time to rest, it is time to STOP TTIP!
Below you can find a gallery of images from different protests and events that took place on the 18th of April all over Europe.
