My off-the-cuff reaction is the same as yours but look what happens to institutions where all negotiation is public: posturing, media tyranny, corridor diplomacy and a huge gap between public position and any real opinion.
It's correct that much of the details are secret, but I'd stay it's still more correct to label it as a free-trade agreement than a 'secret deal'.
I think it's insane that negotiations aren't public, and I also disagree with some of the contents being discussed. But I think it's more objectively described as a free-trade agreement (in which there are also a lot of good parts).
That's a fair point, but since we are all pissed off at our governments for taking liberties with our well-intentioned permission to conduct espionage on behalf of our well-being, your are extending more benefit-of-the-doubt than a lot of us are. That's probably to your credit. But I am wary that the 'secret' stuff has a lot of implications that are only on the edge of what we would think of as trade agreement- intel sharing and such.
It could, I suppose, be a positive: everybody come clean about the past(keep that stuff a secret) and then have fair and reasonable limitations going forward. There was a day when I thought like that... :)
The negotiations do not need to be public - as noted elsewhere opening them up would also come with a cost. International agreements like this are often negotiated behind closed doors.
What is a problem, is we can be sure that once the negotiations are complete and the agreement brought before the legislature for approval (essentially a rubber stamp as we already know), there will be very little time for debate and public comment before this shit sandwich is rammed down our throats. That's the really undemocratic part.
With that in mind these leaks are a great thing and entirely appropriate
Does anyone know credentials of the people negotiating these deals? Are they well-paid?
If these deals' negotiations have to be secret and since so much is at stake, I'd hope my government would have the best negotiators, psychologists, economists, spies, or other personnel that money can buy.
I some parts are still held secret; this is only the EU-side, I think the US are still keeping their citizens in the dark; and EU only started publishing some details after heavy criticism, it should have been transparent from the beginning.
