Scottish Trade Justice Movement - Lobby of German Consulate Edinburgh.

Why the Scottish Trade Justice Movement are lobbying the German Consulate on 19 April 2007.

• Posted on Apr 16, 2007

• the lobby is timed to coincide with and to supplement the major TJM demonstration taking place in London on the same day. Campaigners from all over England will be converging on London to lobby every European embassy in the city with the demand to put a stop to unfair trade deals between European and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
• As well as lobbying the London embassies, TJM supporters will be lobbying the German Consulates in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
• Similar actions to these will be taking place across Europe and Africa.
• The primary focus is on the German Embassy and Consulates because Germany currently holds the Presidency of the European Union and will host the 2007 meeting of G8 countries in June.
• The “Unfair Trade Deals” we are campaigning against are “Economic Partnership Agreements” currently being negotiated between the European Union and 75 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
• These ACP countries were formerly European colonies and as former colonies had trade deals (the “Cotonou Partnership Agreement”) with the European Union that give ACP exporters preferential access to the EU market without requiring ACP countries to give any concessions in return to the European Union – a requirement known as reciprocity.
• However, this Cotonou Partnership Agreement is not compatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules that require reciprocity and the European Union and ACP countries have been negotiating to replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement with new WTO compliant agreements by the end of this year – Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
• TJM argues that the European Union is using these EPAs negotiations to pressurise ACP countries into signing what are essentially free trade agreements that would allow EU exports to flood into ACP country markets with devastating effects on vulnerable sectors of ACP economies such as agriculture, manufacturing and services.
• The European Union is also accused of using the negotiations to try to force ACP countries to accept new rules on foreign investment, competition and services – all areas that had been excluded as damaging to developing countries under WTO trade negotiations in the Doha Development round.
• There are more than 720 million people living in ACP countries. Thirty-nine of the world’s fifty least developed countries are ACP countries. It is critical that the development implications of EPAs are the priority for both sides in these negotiations. That is the message we are sending to the EU countries and the world today.

^ top of page ^