TRADE FOR AID - EUROPEANS PUSH FOR TRADE GAINS FROM POOR COUNTRIES
Tomato growers, like these from
Tanzania, now face a new threat in the
form of Free Trade Agreements which
the EU is currently trying to enforce.
The European Union (including Ireland) is pushing poor countries to accept Free Trade Agreements, potentially destroying the ability of poor countries to regulate business in the public interest. The poor countries have already rejected, at the World Trade Organisation, much of what the EU is now proposing. Oxfam is campaigning to stop these unfair deals.
For several decades the European Union has helped many former colonies of European states - the so called ACP states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (most of whom are the poorest countries in the world) with a special fund of overseas aid as well as preferential access to European markets. This access has meant that goods from these countries could be sold in Europe while paying less taxes than imports from other countries - giving them an advantage over other non-ACP countries.
Now, the European Union is looking for something in return - in fact a lot in return. The EU is seeking to open up the markets of poor ACP countries to European goods and services - regardless of the impact that this will have on jobs and the economies of ACP countries. They are also looking for new trade rules which have been rejected in the past and which could jeopardise the ability of poor countries to regulate foreign businesses in the public interest.
The agreements which the European Union are proposing are called Economic Partnership Agreements or EPAs. Oxfam, together with development organisations and trade unions from across the globe are seeking to stop EPA's in the current form proposed by the EU. To take action see www.oxfamireland.org.
MAKE TRADE FAIR
WHAT NEXT?
The focus of the Make Trade Fair campaign will be around the issue of Economic Partnership Agreements for the remainder of the year and into 2007. From September 27 an Oxfam briefing paper on this issue will be available on our website. If you would prefer to have this paper emailed or posted to you please let us know at campaigns@oxfamireland.org
Free Trade Agreements are agreements where two or more
countries decide to remove trade taxes
and other barriers to imports to each
other's goods. Rich countries, in particular
the EU and United States, are using Free Trade Agreements to get
access to the markets of poor countries for their rich companies
and to force poor countries to accept unfair trade rules. These
agreements threaten the ability of poor countries to provide cheap
medicine, to regulate essential services and endanger the
livelihoods of workers and small farmers across the world.
