Spain: Activists protest TTIP with 8-metre high 'Trojan horse'

Several dozen activists erected an 8-metre (26 feet) high 'Trojan horse' in Madrid to protest against the ongoing Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, Tuesday. They say the treaty would put corporate rights ahead of citizens' rights, state sovereignty and democracy. Activists say the 'negative' sides of TTIP are being implemented in secret, ready to spring a surprise on unwitting citizens, just like the subterfuge in the classical tale of the Trojan horse. To ram home their point, they played the role of 'business lobbyists' from the US and EU and displayed a large banner reading 'stop TTIP.' TTIP is a proposed transatlantic free trade agreement between the European Union and the USA. Proponents of TTIP claim that it would result in multilateral economic growth, with critics stating that it would increase corporate power, making it more difficult for governments to regulate markets in the interest of the public. There is widespread concern about the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism written into TTIP, which would allow foreign investors to use dispute settlement proceedings against countries where local laws could affect 'future profits.' Previous examples of this procedure have included the US oil company Occidental Petroleum's billion-dollar law-suit against the Ecuadorian government.