The EU's FTAs with Latin America

On the second day of the EU's Green Week, an action group took the stage during a session of the 2-day policy summit titled ‘Pricing the earth: How business can protect and profit from biodiversity’. The 'summit' was organised by Friends of Europe, a corporate-sponsored think tank. The activists spread a red banner reading ‘Green Week is as green as this banner’ and one listing the companies behind Friends of Europe, including BP, Dow, Areva and Coca Cola.

We have in this blog reported extensively about the boycott by Brussels-based think tanks of the transparency register. We have also congratulated Commissioner Kallas for taking on Friends of Europe as a particularly obvious example of a corporate-funded think tank that really must register.

Bonn, 19 May -- The biosafety negotiations in Bonn ended without a legally binding agreement on who could be held liable for compensation for damage caused by GM crops. Negotiators reached an "accord" which will be negotiated further over the next two years. This time it was Japan blocking progress, with the silent approval of New Zealand, Peru,and probably others. This does not look good for Japan who is host for the next CBD.

Brussels – As business leaders meet for the EU-India business summit in Brussels this week, a report by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) revealed today that the EU Commission is using the event to actively orchestrate big business support for the EU-India free trade agreement, despite criticism from small businesses and people’s movements. This week’s EU-India official summit and a parallel business gathering are expected to give negotiations a push towards conclusion.

Particularly significant is the proposal on structural reforms, first put forward last year by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. Fundamentally the Commission would require eurozone member states to sign bilateral contracts – a so-called “Convergence and Competitiveness Instrument” – on a number of structural reforms. In exchange for compliance the member state would be rewarded with financial incentives.