US-EU trade deal foes protest at talks outside Washington

A proposal to give foreign investors special protection on both sides of the Atlantic drew bitter criticism Wednesday on the sidelines of United States-European Union free trade negotiations, dpa reported. Outside Founders Hall at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, a coalition of US and European groups protested the inclusion of the proposal. Bruno Kramm, a techno musician and copyright issues envoy from Germany's Pirate Party, said that activists opposed to the trade talks 'have the possibility to synchronize our movements' on both sides of the Atlantic. Europeans, for example, 'are afraid that fracking technology,' which uses solvents to free underground gas deposits, will be exported from the United States, Kramm said. Inside, 75 stakeholder groups were able to make their cases to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators for what they want in the agreement, which would create the world's largest free-trade area with 800 million consumers.