an Eldis Resource
The EU Corporate Trade Agenda: the role and the interests of corporations and their lobby groups in trade policy-making in the European Union
Towards a global trade policy
Authors:
C. Deckwirth; Seattle to Brussels Network
Publisher:
War on Want, 2005
This paper aims to focus on the three most relevant and most controversial issues at the end of the Doha Round of WTO negotiations – services, agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA). The document aims to shed light both on those who are the beneficiaries of trade policy making in Brussels, the European Trans-national Corporations, and those who pave the way for their global expansion and worldwide profits, i.e. the Brussels-based corporate lobbyists but also the European Commission.
The paper concludes that trade policy must serve the people and the environment not only in Europe but globally. It should first and foremost be made with respect to human rights – and should not be dealt with in exclusive circles. Thus, a democratisation of trade policy on a European, but also on a national and global level, is an essential precondition to re-regulate the global trade regime. This will pave the way towards incorporating some alternative guiding principles into trade policy. [adapted from the author]
