The bizarre wranglings of both EU and US politicians on 'trade deals' show they're caught between the rock of public opinion and the hard place of corporate might. Meanwhile other corporate-driven trade deals are being worked on in the shadows.
In the old days, autocrats just dissolved their parliaments when they didn't do as they were bid, as Bismarck did in 1886 when the German Reichstag didn't pass his army bill. The leaders in Brussels don't have exactly the same powers but their attitude to popular democracy is not dissimilar.
On 10 June our elected representatives in Strasbourg turned up to vote on TTIP but were told by their leaders that they couldn't do that just yet. Maybe in three months.
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us. Please check individual images for licensing details.
