In my last post, I cited a Politico article which suggests that ISDS/investment protection will be removed from the Japan - EU free trade agreement (JEFTA) that is currently under negotiation. But now I see that Greenpeace has leaked some of the JEFTA text, which shows that it has investment protection still in it. My guess is that Greenpeace has leaked an older version of the text that does not reflect the recent decision to take ISDS out, but I'm not completely sure. We'll find out eventually.
But putting that aside, here's my question: How will NGOs react if ISDS comes out? Will they declare victory and stop protesting trade agreements? Or will they find other reasons to object? On its JEFTA web page, Greenpeace seems to have other objections, such as the failure of JEFTA to address Japanese whaling. But if they are at all reasonable, shouldn't they recognize what a significant change taking ISDS out is? Can they really expect to get everything they want?
