EDINBURGH (Sputnik), Mark Hirst – A proposed new EU directive aimed at prohibiting publication of so-called trade secrets of large corporations is not in the public interest and will prevent the exposure of corruption, Colin Fox, the leader of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) told Sputnik Friday.
“The SSP is very concerned that directives like the Trade Secrets and Confidential Business Information together with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will inhibit freedom of speech and freedom of the press particularly in regards to holding big business to account and exposing its wrongdoing,” Fox said.
“In recent years there have been many corporations caught with 'their fingers in the till' on an enormous scale — ENRON, the Libor scandal and the misselling of Payment Protection Insurance readily spring to mind,” he noted.
Fox went on to add that there needed to be a “democratic overhaul” of the EU’s structures to enable it to serve Europe’s five hundred million population and not the “corporate elite”.
“One of the possible outcome will be that journalists will impose self-censorship to avoid any legal lawsuit against them,” Wong said.
She said yes, answering the question, if the directive was another example of the EU bowing to pressure from the United States to adopt laws it would not voluntarily adopt.
A number of workers’ trade unions, health organizations and freedom of speech bodies have voiced their opposition to the directive. The directive’s rapporteur has dismissed the concerns, arguing it will simply give a legal framework for all member states to operate within.
