Corporate Europe Observatory

Un selecto club de despachos de abogados internacionales, árbitros y especuladores financieros están alimentando un auge del arbitraje de inversiones que cuesta a los ciudadanos miles de millones de dólares y frena legislación que favorecería al interés público. Los casos más conocidos incluyen la demanda de la tabacalera Philip Morris a Uruguay y Australia por las advertencias de salud en los paquetes de cigarrillos; o el proceso abierto por la multinacional energética sueca Vattenfall que pedía 3.700 millones a Alemania por la decisión de este país de renunciar gradualmente a la energía nuclear. "Cuando la injusticia es negocio" desenmascara el secreto pero floreciente negocio legal que se beneficia de estas disputas, a costa de los ciudadanos, el medio ambiente y los derechos humanos.

Be it out of sheer ignorance or because it is serving narrow corporate interests, or both, the European Commission is pushing for water supply privatisation in Europe precisely when the business model that this policy wants to support is dying.

The Commission is lashing out towards member states, such as Belgium, that haven't followed the desired course sufficiently. With the "two-pack" it will be easier to force them. They usher in stronger EU control of national budgets, a new type of adjustment programmes, and a consolidation of the Troika approach to indebted member states.

When European head of states meet on March 14 and 15 in Brussels for the European spring summit they will asses the 'progress' of reforms in EU member states and how they match with the “Country Specific Recommendations” the Commission gave to the member states.

Since the outbreak of the crisis, major reforms of the EU's economic governance have been introduced. These reforms are designed to lock in fiscal policy at a national level and enforce austerity at the European level.