An Agent of Mad Neoliberalism

On behalf of Europe, Ignacio Garcia Bercero is secretly negotiating a free-trade agreement with the United States that would enslave countries of the world under the diktat of private big companies.

Who knows Ignacio Garcia Bercero? He is director in the directorate-general for trade at the European Commission, a structure that is to transparency what margarine is to butter. On that score, he is negotiating for the 28 European countries an agreement on a trans-Atlantic partnership between the U.S. and European Union. The latter aspires to realize the dream of the craziest free-trade proponents: the creation of a vast zone, where customs and regulatory barriers would be banished. This would profit big private companies and, notably, American groups.

It is a matter of bringing down the norms in effect in multiple and varied domains — from food regulation to the protection of privacy — based on the stupid notion that the freedom of deregulated commerce induces general expansion — if that were the case, we would know. Once these principles are carved in legal stones, neither states nor parliaments could oppose them, with the exception of bringing them in front of international courts that would have the power to make them pay for their indiscretions.

The negotiations already started several months ago, in complete opacity, away from prying eyes. Except for the names of the official negotiators, nothing has been revealed. Only the lobbyists have access to the first preliminary drafts issued from the discussions. For the rest, it is a blackout. The last thing they want is to bring to the fore pieces of information that would allow the people or their constituents to intervene.

Nicole Bricq, [French] minister for foreign trade, has merely put in place “a committee designed to monitor and reflect on the agreement on trans-Atlantic partnership.” In this committee, we find some cherry-picked parliamentarians, authorities in the CEO sphere, and trendy economists, such as the inevitable Élie Cohen.

In a nutshell, some experts will supervise other experts, directed by Bercero, who has never received any popular mandate yet considers himself authorized to do whatever he wants. Bricq took care not to ask for the lifting of negotiating secrecy and for parliamentary access to the ongoing discussions. This would be a minimum. Before giving Ukraine lectures on democracy, they should look at their own backyard.