MEPs Might Block Trade Deal Over Rights To Regulate Carbon Emissions

The European parliament will block a secretive trade pact unless it guarantees states’ rights to regulate over climate, health and social laws. A key parliamentary leader made that warning just days before a related crunch vote on trade liberalization with the US. The shot across the bow, by a former commission vice-president, follows publication of a Wikileaks trawl of 17 negotiating texts for the Trade in Services Agreement--or "Tisa." Environmentalists fear the agreement could outlaw attempts to set bloc emissions limits for airlines or ships. Vivian Redding, parliament’s former justice commissioner, told the Guardian “Our right to regulate must be fully and unequivocally preserved."