“From a strictly legal point of view, the European Commission may reject the European Citizens' Initiative to put a stop to TTIP and CETA. However, in doing so, the Commission ignores the rightful demand by millions of citizens to decide how they do business in the future, how they live, consume and want to work,” said GUE/NGL trade policy spokesman, Helmut Scholz, strongly condemning the European Commission's decision.

Helmut Scholz continued: “The European United Left/Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament supports the European Citizens' Initiative as a tool for greater democracy and participation in the European Union. We reject a decision on the TTIP which plans to give corporations the right to take legal action before special courts against governments when environmental or consumer protection laws threaten to reduce profit. This endangers our democracy and many of our social achievements. We want to prevent wage, social and environmental dumping worldwide. We want high-quality standards for consumer goods and services in the EU and in the USA.”