Germans rally against planned European Union trade deals with US, Canada

Protesters held placards including “democracy instead of TTIP” and “Pikachu is also against the TTIP”.

A similar but smaller trade deal between the European Union and Canada, called the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), is due to be signed in October. Canada Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday the Canadian government hoped to sign the deal in October. They argued that the trade agreements would favour industrialized agricultural production over craft-based food production not involving genetic engineering, cost thousands of jobs and lead to lower standards on employment and food safety.

People demonstrate against the TTIP and CETA trade agreements in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016.

A new round of talks is due to start in October, and President Obama says he wants the deal to be concluded before he leaves office in January.

“CETA and TTIP threaten environmental and consumer protection for millions of people in Europe and North America”, said Jennifer Morgan, head of Greenpeace International.

His statement was later tempered by German government sources, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying that she still saw an agreement as possible, although more negotiations were needed.

In a recent interview, Merkel noted the high unemployment rate in several European Union countries and added that “we should do everything we can to create jobs – the free trade agreements are part of that”.

Even within her “grand coalition” government, however, there is dissent.

Some think it would give multinational companies greater access to European markets without creating jobs.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom defended the planned trade deals and accused the opponents of deliberately heating up the debate with “horror stories and lies”.

Suspicion is running high in Germany over the accords. And 52 percent said they believe the agreements would weaken standards and result in the import of defective products, according to the same survey.

The largest protests were in Germany, where protest organizers say around 320,000 people gathered, but police put the number at around 180,000.

“The proposed special court is a “form of secular sharia of capitalist managers”, he wrote in a commentary in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Writing in German daily Die Welt, columnist David Eckhart stated, “A further lowering of tariff barriers, the dismantling of bureaucracy and worldwide standardisation are rather cost-effective methods to create greater wealth that future generations can benefit from”. “A further lowering of tariff barriers, the dismantling of bureaucracy and global standardisation are rather cost-effective methods to create greater wealth that future generations can benefit from”.