15,000 March on Brussels, Urge Their Leaders to Take Down TTIP

In an interview with Sputnik, Belgian MP Zakia Khattabi who co-chairs the Belgian Green Party "Ecolo," underscored the importance of continuing to put pressure on the EU in order to prod it to stop the negotiations.

"I think that now the time is right for exerting pressure on the governments of the EU countries so that a movement in the opposite direction can be created and the talks on these agreements be halted," she said.

She was echoed by an unnamed Greenpeace activist, who told Sputnik why he'd decided to come to the streets.

"Why? Because these agreements are simply anti-democratic documents which run counter to pressing modern-day environmental problems. Also, the agreements may affect the public in terms of its social aspects," the activist said.

In September 2014, the European Union and Canada announced the conclusion of the CETA agreement.

Brussels and Ottawa hope that CETA, which seeks to lower trade barriers and create more jobs, will be signed this fall and implemented in early 2017.

As for TTIP, it intends to establish a free-trade zone encompassing the United States and the European Union.

Washington and Brussels began negotiations regarding the agreement in 2013. However, details of the deal, including rules on market access, haven't been made public.

The TTIP has already drawn criticism for the lack of transparency surrounding the negotiations and for the power it would potentially give multinational corporations.