(vi kör ett inlägg på engelska med lite annan vinkling än det tidigare, för att koppla upp mot den allt växande engelskspråkiga läsarskaran)
Today the Swedish Minister for EU-affairs, Birgitta Ohlsson, wrote an article in the major Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Ohlsson stresses the importance of gender equality within the EU labour market. Based on figures from OECD and the European Commission, she claims that this could bring a
12 % GDP growth in Europe. This is 24 times the amount of the supposed economic benefits of TTIP (which amounts to 0,5 %, according to optimistic estimates).
The Swedish government has been one of the biggest proponents of a Transatlantic Trade deal. To this end, the government has implemented a strategy (remarkably similar to the leaked European Commission communication strategy) on how to achieve a comprehensive TTIP. Even as the Minister is advocating TTIP, her statement highlights that increased gender equality in the labour market could result in 24 times the GDP growth of the proposed TTIP. This would be achievable without violating any democratic principles, environmental laws nor consumer protection. If one is hooked on growth, this would be a preferable way to go, wouldn’t you say?
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