Arlington, Virginia (Alliance News) - A proposal to give foreign investors special protection on both sides of the Atlantic drew bitter criticism at the US-EU free trade negotiations.

Outside Founders Hall at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, a coalition of US and European groups protested the inclusion of the proposal.

Bruno Kramm, a techno musician and copyright issues envoy from Germany's Pirate Party, said that activists opposed to the trade talks "have the possibility to synchronize our movements" on both sides of the Atlantic.

Europeans, for example, "are afraid that fracking technology," which uses solvents to free underground gas deposits, will be exported from the US, Kramm said.

Inside, 75 stakeholder groups were able to make their cases to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators for what they want in the agreement, which would create the world's largest free-trade area with 800 million consumers.

The Arlington talks this week are the fifth round in the TTIP negotiations since the start of the process 10 months ago.

The deal would do away with import duties and other trade obstacles and create common product standards. Officials say the measure would spur participating economies and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

Agreement is expected next year at the earliest.

Idaho potato farmers, the Humane Society, cranberry growers and "digital democracy" advocates made presentations, but the fiercest debate was in the investment session.

US groups including the US Council for International Business (USCIB) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) defended proposed secret courts for foreign investors.

US and European critics say the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism - already built into most of the world's free-trade agreements - will deter lawmakers and regulators from protecting public safety.

Under the extrajudicial courts, for example, a European investor could sue the US government if it passes a new law that undermines the value of an asset.

Ben Beachy of Public Citizen, a left-wing consumer advocacy group, rattled off a series of cases where he said this has happened.

Canada, for example, backed down from controlling toxic additives to petrol, dropped plans to require plain cigarette packaging and cancelled plans for a public car insurance scheme in light of threats by US companies to sue the Canadian government, he said.

"Foreign firms are empowered to circumvent the domestic legal system," Ben Beachy of Public Citizen, a left-wing consumer advocacy group, told a packed room.

Shaun Donnelly of USCIB, a business-backed free-trade group, opposed any "carve-outs" or exceptions for TTIP.

Investment protection "needs to be historical, ambitious and comprehensive," he said. He objected to critics calling the investor-state dispute settlement "toxic and cancerous," saying the mechanisms were first devised by Europeans, in an agreement between Germany and Pakistan in the 1950s.

"This is not an American plot being imposed on anyone," he said.

The topic is so controversial in Europe that the EU has pushed the pause button on ISDS issues in the trade talks until it can complete a public consultation with interested groups.

Other European critics of the deal fear that high EU consumer standards would be lowered to meet US standards. But Fabian Wendenburg of the Federation of German Industries insisted that TTIP "must not be a race to the bottom."

"Made in Germany is a quality label," he said. "We would be shooting ourselves in the leg if we compromised."

Opposition to the deal is particularly strong in Germany, where the trade deal is a top issue in the European Parliament elections.

German Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor, on Wednesday met with critics who have formed an advisory council. "We want more transparency," he said.

Gabriel also recently warned that inclusion of the investor protection mechanism could cancel out German support of the deal.

Another issue that raised its head this week was European anger over the NSA surveillance affair. EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht charged that the US has hindered the talks through the "unbearable extent" of its spying, according comments quoted by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

He said he had asked his US counterpart Mike Froman if the reports were true that NSA had also spied on trade organizations, and had until now not received an answer.

Copyright dpa