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Article

1 Nov 2016

Author:
Armin Paasch, Misereor

EU trade strategy best described as a "fig-leaf approach to human rights" says NGO

Protests are arising all over the EU against two planned trade agreements: CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) with Canada and TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) with the USA. In response to the protests, Cecilia Malmström, the trade commissioner, adopted a new strategy called „Trade for all” in 2015. Among other things, it expresses renewed concern for European values as well as democracy. Malmström’s promises include effectiveness, transparency and a focus on values. She pledges to protect Europe’s social and regulatory model and to promote human rights, sustainability and the fight against corruption all over the world. However, the new strategy hardly mentions tangible reform steps that would be necessary to initiate real change...Just like the previous strategy, the new one does not foresee any exceptions that serve to protect human rights. It fails to spell out that measures to ensure the rights to food, health or social protection serve „legitimate policy goals“. The right to regulate, however, must be rooted in legitimate goals, according to the EU. In recent years, agricultural exports from the EU have put considerable downward pressure on food prices in developing countries...