Wikileaks offers bounty for TTIP texts

The transparency organization takes aim at trade talk secrets.

Wikileaks launched a crowdfunding campaign Tuesday to raise €100,000 to pay anyone who can provide texts of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the group had raised more than a quarter of the funds by the end of the day.

“The time for its secrecy to end is now,” said Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange in a press release.

The European Commission was more circumspect, with Daniel Rosario, spokesman for Trade and Agriculture saying, “The Commission has no particular comment to make on this issue [of Wikileaks].”

Wikileaks claims early donors include ex-Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, American journalist Glenn Greenwald and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

Trade negotiations remain among the best-kept secrets in international relations.

It’s not the first time Wikileaks has attempted to get documents about trade negotiations. In June, the organization offered a $100,000 reward for the current text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The target has since been raised to $150,000 and is 69 percent funded, according to the website. Although three of the draft treaty’s chapters have been leaked, the remaining 26 are still under wraps.

Despite repeated calls for more transparency, trade negotiations remain among the best-kept secrets in international relations.

Last year, NGOs and members of the European Parliament pushed in for more openness in talks on the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP), which could boost EU exports to the U.S. by 28 percent a year, according to the Commission.

In January, Emily O’Reilly, European ombudsman, concluded: “Further steps to increase TTIP transparency (are) necessary.”

In its response, the Commission explained that “the U.S. have explicitly asked for the EU not to release documents prepared by them … [and] to preserve positions taken for tactical reasons with regard to third countries.”

A month later however, the Commission published EU negotiating texts on its website.

The Commission now also gives regular updates. Most recently, EU Chief Negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero said last month that the EU and U.S. should “be able to achieve an agreement on good regulatory practices,” but offered no details.

The official report on round 10 of the negotiations, published on July 31, is difficult to decrypt, although it does indicate that medicines, food safety, and dispute resolution are among the most contentious issues.