Croats Join Protests Against Atlantic Trade Deal

A protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, nicknamed "Beware of the Trojan Treaty," will be organised in Zagreb, Croatia, on Wednesday.

Like others around the EU, the protest in Zagreb aims to raise awareness of what activists claim is the harm that the TIPP will do to the interests of society.

The TTIP is a proposed free trade agreement between the EU and US, designed to encourage multilateral economic growth and job creation.

If the EU Council of Ministers approves the agreement, the European Parliament must then support it - or not. After its decision, the EU member states must ratify the agreement at national level.

The organisers of the Zagreb protest, Green Action, Friends of Earth, and other NGOs dealing with the topic, claim that the agreement "puts the interests of corporations before the interests of society, health and the environment.

"Together, we can prevent this agreement from violating established standards of human rights and the environment, and work so that people and the planet are in first place and not profit," the protest on Facebook reads.

The TTIP will lead to deregulation and a lowering of standards in five key categories, according to activists.

These are: food and agriculture; protection of the environment; labour legislation; financial regulation; and data protection.

According to the protesters, one of the most harmful aspects of the TTIP mechanisms is the investor-state dispute settlement, ISDS.

This would enable corporations to by-pass national legal systems and seek financial compensation against states in international courts.

Activists also say the deal will increase the imports of oil and gas produced in the US.

Croatian citizens...