1. Negotiations
2. Europe

Join the week of strategy planning and action against European Free Trade Agreements

Join us for a week of strategy planning and
action against European Free Trade Agreements

Over 40 people from movements and organisations from the South will visit
Europe and join together with European organisations to sound the alarm on EU
Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)

– April 9 2008: Public Hearing in European Parliament on EU FTAs followed by press conference,
action and meeting, Brussels. Please register at: pietje.vervest@tni.org
– April 10 2008 and after: Lobbying and advocacy programmes in Brussels, Dublin, London,
Madrid, Amsterdam/The Hague and other EU cities

For more info on programme of EP hearing and lobby visits go to: www.S2Bnetwork.org

Since the end of the 1990s, the European Union has pursued a multi-faceted trade strategy: at
the same time as pursuing multilateral negotiations it has also been pushing for bi-lateral and bi-
regional agreements (covert FTAs named: ‘Association Agreements’ and ‘Economic Partnership
Agreements’ (EPAs)) with specific countries (Mexico, Chile, South Africa) and regions in Latin
America, Africa, and Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries.

However, by 2006 the EU decided to launch its most aggressive trade and investment strategy,
identifying FTAs as the main framework within which to achieve sweeping liberalisation. This
strategy is elaborated in the EC Communication Global Europe: Competing in the World . This
new and far-reaching, TNC-serving, European strategy, marks a new phase in EU trade policy.
Since the launch of this communication, the EU has begun negotiations with: the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Central America Region, Andean Community of Nations
(CAN), South Korea, and India. Other key targets have also been identified: the MERCOSUR
region (where the EU-MERCOSUR FTA has been stalled for some time), the Euro-Med Free Trade
Zone, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). The EU is also pushing for the creation of a Free
Trade Area particularly focusing on the US and Canada. Throughout 2007, the Commission has
pursued a divide and rule strategy with regards negotiations with ACP countries.

Since the beginning of these negotiations social movements and NGOs, both from the regions of
the South as well as from Europe, have been critically assessing, strategizing and in many cases
openly opposing the content and form of these negotiations. From Mexico to Chile, Africa to the
Caribbean, initiatives attempting to tackle the negative aspects of these negotiations began in
isolation; now, as the EU strategy is being seen as a much more systemic process we see that it
is necessary to ally our efforts, strategies and mobilisations.

The overall objective of the week is to assess the state of play of the EU trade offensive, make its
impacts in the South and in Europe known to a wider audience and to develop appropriate
strategies for future campaigning.