Wedding Ceremony for Commission

BRUSSELS - Seattle to Brussels network campaigners today (Tuesday 28th October) called on Trade Commissioner Baroness Ashton to end the unholy alliance between DG Trade and business lobby group BusinessEurope with a mock wedding celebration outside BusinessEurope's Going Global conference event (check the blog for pictures of the action).

The ceremony took place outside the Charlemagne Building, the official home of DG Trade and the venue for BusinessEurope's "Going Global" conference on the Global Europe Strategy of international trade.

According to the Seattle to Brussels network, the conference reflects the close working relationship established between DG Trade and BusinessEurope over the Global Europe trade strategy, which has seen business interests prioritised over the needs of the world's poor and the environment (see CEO's "Open Doors" report).

Olivier Hoedeman from Corporate Europe Observatory, a member organisation of the Seattle to Brussels network said:

"The Commission seems to be so intimately involved with business lobbyists that they have given them privileged access in putting together the Global Europe strategy. The result is a trade policy that prioritises big business at the expense of almost every other sector. It is the world's poorest, the environment and society who are paying the price."

BusinessEurope's involvement has also been criticised by Swedish MEP Jens Holm (GUE/NGL) who last week sent an open letter to Baroness Ashton, the new Trade Commissioner, asking her to remove BusinessEurope's conference from the Charlemagne building.

Campaigners say that with a new Commissioner in post, it is time for DG Trade and the Commission to break away from the undemocratic liaison with business lobbyists and to develop a more sustainable approach to trade.