Financial Express, India

BJP demands halt to FTA talks with EU

FE Bureau

22 April 2011

New Delhi/ The BJP has demanded an immediate halt to all plans to finalise a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) and asked that an all-party meeting be called to analyse the impact assessment reports of such an agreement.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said that, “the UPA government’s approach for going ahead with FTAs/CECAs/CEPAs with various counties without proper consultation with various stakeholders is a dangerous tndency. It is unilateral, unaccountable and therefore dangerous,” he said.

He added that the trade and economic relations committee set up by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has effectively kept out not just the state governments who have jurisdiction over agriculture and health (which are major constituents of these agreements) but also the Union cabinet itself.

“ Moreover, the UPA government is moving away from a multilateral arrangement under WTO and compromising the bargaining power in the Doha round,” he said. “Even the Economic Survey of 2010-11 (page 186) has cautioned the government on its new frenzy in bilateral agreements. It says ’in some cases the benefits to the partner country are much more, with net gains of incremental exports from India being small or negative. FTAs also lead to a new type of inverted duty structure,’” he said.

When asked whether the BJP was in favour of ratifying these kind of trade agreement through Parliament, Javadekar said yes. When asked whether this would no in fact, inhibit trade relations due to the cumbersome nature of the process, Javadekar said that “most countries have this mechanism.”

“These agreements are not small things, they will have a long term impact on the economy, the country has to be taken into confidence over its impact and just what is being promised,” he said.