CETA negotiations are held in secret by unaccountable capitalist bodies, photo Acid the meme machine (Creative Commons)

CETA negotiations are held in secret by unaccountable capitalist bodies, photo Acid the meme machine (Creative Commons)   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

The government is pressing ahead with hush-hush free-trade deal ‘Ceta’, which will further entrench privatisation and anti-worker practices.

Ceta is the EU-Canada ‘Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement’. It is the Canadian equivalent of the EU-United States ‘TTIP’ deal. Both could allow corporations to sue states in secret courts in disputes over losing opportunities to make profits.

TTIP has largely fallen through – not least due to Britain’s vote to leave the EU. But it seems International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has already signed us up to Ceta, without discussion, Brexit or no. Multinationals stymied by TTIP’s failure could now work through Canada instead.

The Socialist says no to these privatisers’ charters. Scrap the bosses’ free-market treaties, and bring public services and major corporations into public ownership.