Those working to establish a Free Trade Agreement between US and the EU, aka TTIP, are planning a system of Courts to deal with disputes between prívate corporations and governments that clearly benefit the former and reduces the capacity of the State to plan according to the needs of the population.
in fact the “Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is an instrument that allows an investor to bring a case directly against the country hosting its investment, without the intervention of the government of the investor’s country of origin. In December 2013, a coalition of over 200 environmentalists, labor unions and consumer advocacy organizations on both sides of the Atlantic sent a letter to the USTR and European Commission demanding the investor-state dispute settlement be dropped from the trade talks, claiming that “Investor-state dispute settlement is a one-way street by which corporations can challenge government policies, but neither governments nor individuals are granted any comparable rights to hold corporations accountable.” (Wikipedia)
The comedian and social commentator John Oliver presents a clear example of the type of disputes that will be greatly favoured by such legislation, in this case how Big Tobacco has been arm twisting governments to prevent attempts to improve the health of the population by reducing smoking.
