Archive for the ‘Trade and Economy’ Category

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Free Our Seeds! International Days of Action, Brussels, 17-18 April 2011

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

The International Seed Action Days will be held on 17/18 of April 2011 in Brussels, with a public debate on the 17 April (Sunday), 16.00 -19.00 (Molenbeek Cultural Centre) on “Access to seeds is a human right” with activists from India, Turkey and several European countries. They will describe the situation concerning seeds in their countries and the consequences of the planned EU laws. There is food offered by a good popular Brussels kitchen after the debate.

From the invitation: Tens of thousands of people throughout Europe are actively demanding that the right to produce seeds remains in the hands of small farmers and gardeners. … The big seed trusts are determined to obtain worldwide control. This has been made clear by genetic engineering, patents on plants and animals, the introduction of seed reproduction fees… We must prevent the very basis of our food supply from becoming a source of profit for multinational companies. …

www.seed-sovereignty.org

Posted in Ecology and Climate, Social Movements, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

Investment Rights Stifle Democracy

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Report on current decision-making in the European Institutions on investement policies that stifle democracy – by Corporate Europe Observatory.

Full report on website of CEO »

Posted in European Institutions, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

Euro-crisis: In Ireland, the Worst is Yet to Come

Monday, March 7th, 2011
Roland Kulke, RLF Brussels

Ireland is to receive €85 billion from the European Financial Stabilization Facility, a large part of which will be passed on through to the country’s banks. Altogether, this credit line has been stocked up to the tune of €400 billion; on top of that comes €60 billion from the European Commission’s Financial Consolidation Mechanism. The Commission was particularly proud of the latter instrument, since it thought it was getting a tool that might move the Brussels bureaucracy a tiny step towards greater financial autonomy. But their hope that of some day becoming a player on the financial field was soon dashed: Merkel and Sarkozy made it clear that this mechanism will expire in 2013.

(more…)

Posted in Crisis, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

The EU-Free Trade Agreement with Colombia and Peru

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

“This publication contains an overview of the FTA’s history, of human rights violations in Colombia and Peru as well as a critical analysis of the draft agreement which recently leaked to the public. It appears that the main beneficiaries of the agreement would be European transnational corporations (TNCs) working in Colombia and Peru. The text, therefore, describes European TNCs’ activities in these two Andean countries and their involvement in human rights violations, particularly in commercial agriculture  and extractive industries like mining and petroleum.” (From the Introduction of the book)

The Second Conquest: The EU Free Trade Agreement with Colombia and Peru – by Thomas Fritz | FDCL (Berlin), TNI (Amsterdam), October 2010, ISBN: 978-3-923020-50-8

Download book from FDCL homepage »

Posted in Development Policy, Ecology and Climate, European Institutions, Latin America, Social Movements, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

The EU Trade Policy on Raw Materials

Friday, December 24th, 2010

The New Resource Grab: How EU Trade Policy on Raw Materials is Undermining Development – WEED, 2010, in German, English and French

From the introduction: … The Raw Materials Initiative, launched in 2008 by the European Commission, stressed the EU’s dependence on ‘strategically important raw materials’ such as ‘high-tech’ metals like cobalt, platinum, rare earths and titanium as well as other raw materials, such as wood, chemicals, hides and skins. The key problem with securing access to these materials was said to be the ‘proliferation of government measures that distort international trade in raw materials’, notably export taxes and ‘restrictive investment rules’. The main countries applying these restrictive measures were identified as the emerging countries of China, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, South Africa and India. But other developing countries, notably in resource-rich Africa and South America, were also on the EU target list. …

Download book from WEED homepage »

Die EU versucht ihre Rohstoffinteressen über Freihandelsabkommen durchzusetzen. Entwicklungsländer sollen Handelsbarrieren abbauen und neuen Investitionsregeln zustimmen. Das hat Folgen.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Development Policy, European Institutions, Latin America, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

The Crisis of Capitalism and Post-capitalist Horizons

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

By Pedro Páez Pérez – A century ago, Rosa Luxemburg stated that the historical dilemma humankind faced at that time was either socialism or barbarism. The current global crisis underscores emphatically the need to create the objective and subjective conditions to guarantee a solution that enriches and projects the best of human experience from the last centuries. It is a responsibility incumbent upon the progressive forces to immediately create a resolute programme which will permit political consolidation, while at the same time blocking the emerging neo-fascist agenda and opening the way for major transformations.

(more…)

Posted in Crisis, Globalisation, Latin America, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

Association Agreements between the European Union and Latin America

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Acuerdos de Asociación Europa-América Latina: Socios privilegiados o tratados de libre comercio? – RLF Brussels, 2010

Association Agreements with Latin America are increasingly pushed by the European Union. The brochure “Association Agreements European Union – Latin America – Privileged partnerships or Free Trade Agreements?” gives insights into impacts of Association Agreements with the EU on specific sectors, such as agrofuels, water and energy, investments and services, analyses the negotiation processes between the European Union and the Andean Region, and explaines the political context of the probably soon be signed EU-Central American Association Agreement.

The authors are academic researchers and/or associated with civil society organisations that are active in the Hemispheric Social Alliance, a network that originated in the opposition to the American Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA, span. ALCA).

The studies in detail: El Savador (context of EU-Central American Association Agreement and study on anticipated outcomes for micro and meso enterprises), Costa Rica (legal and institutional changes for energy and water), Nicaragua and Guatemala (changing role of agrofuels and impact on association agreements), Colombia and Peru (negotiation processes of association agreements and general overview on experiences with trade agreements in Latin America), Bolivia (role of social movements in the negotiation process), Chile and Mexico (experiences with free trade agreements, impact on investments and services).

Website of brochure with download »

Posted in Development Policy, Ecology and Climate, European Institutions, Latin America, Social Movements, Trade and Economy, Work Relations | No Comments »

The Design Flaws of the Eurozone

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Not long ago, the columnists of the major newspapers would not in their wildest dreams have been able to imagine the events happening today. The taxpayers of the two largest European countries, Germany and France, are to help Greece out of its macroeconomic mess. But no! The word “macro-economics” is quite wrong here, because that makes it sound like rational policy. But: Greece necessarily reacts to its “social environment”, which is the international community. And that is structured by rules and by relationships of power and exchange. Here, certain groups with their institutions rule over other groups – be they the lower classes of their own countries, or other countries which have a lower level of technological development in the international division of labour.

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Posted in European Institutions, Mediterranean, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

Social and Climate Justice Caravan

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Social and Climate Justice Caravan (Bulletin), 2009

Download Caravan Bulletin here

caravanreaderFrom the text: India Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Watch, has created Joint Action Committees across India, led by those who will be most affected by corporate rise in the retail sector. In 2007, during two major mobilizations hundreds of thousands of peopled were joining protest marches against backdoor entry of retail demanding “Corporations to quit retail”. A year later FDI Watch coordinated a halla bol (speak up!) mobilization with major actions happening simultaneously in various parts of the country.

Delhi: Responding to the national call of India FDI Watch Campaign to take the fight to the doorsteps of supermarkets, hundreds of small shopkeepers and street vendors staged militant protest at the doorsteps of Reliance Fresh, Subhiksha and More in the Shakarpur area of Delhi. The protesters forced corporations to down their shutters and locked them. A ten-headed tall effigy was also burnt. Each head of the effigy was symbolizing corporations namely Wal-Mart, Tesco, Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Subhiksha, More, Spencers, Big Apple, Metro and Carrefour.

www.climatecaravan.org

Posted in Africa, Asia, Development Policy, Ecology and Climate, Human Rights, Latin America, Social Movements, Trade and Economy | No Comments »

The Things that get Passed Around in Brussels Street Cafés…

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

passbild

Nobody knows how it happened, but somehow a confidential EU Commission document has made its way through obscure pathways into the hands of the interested Brussels public. In this document titled “A Reform Agenda for Global Europe”, the previous debates between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission for a financial audit in 2008-‘09 are summarised, and suggestions for a reform of the budget starting in 2013 are made.

(more…)

Posted in European Institutions, Minorities and Migration, Peace and Security, Trade and Economy, Work Relations | No Comments »

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