EU ministers told: learn Cancun lessons1 December 2003
Pascal 'the Lion' Lamy performs circus stunts at the
command of a big business lobbyist
European environment and development groups, including Friends of the Earth, called for a rewrite of European trade policy at a trade ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 2 December.
The groups demanded ministers dropped forever the European Commission (EC)'s plans to continue pushing to negotiate rules at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on new issues like:
- Investment
- Competition
- Trade facilitation
- Government procurement
and put the interests of development, environment and democracy before the interests of big business.
Eve Mitchell, Friends of the Earth Corporate Globalisation Campaigner, said:
The G8 has chosen painless commitments to aid and debt to help relieve the symptoms of poverty.
But more than charity, developing countries deserve justice. The G8 nations should have agreed to change their own trade policies to stop them continuing to cause poverty in the world.
A confidential report leaked to the Guardian in October shows the British government privately blamed EC Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, for making a "tactical misjudgement" at the WTO meeting in Cancun by offering concessions too late.
The groups' demands are being made as the EU prepares for a crucial General Council of the WTO meeting scheduled for December 15.
© Friends of the Earth
