FTAs and EPAs
News FTAs and EPAs
Business as usual
07-02-2011
In contrast with the current wide-ranging financial reform agenda in the European Union (EU), the EU continues to liberalise a wide range of risky and non-risky financial services in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) as if the financial crisis never happened. In a new SOMO publication SOMO identifies specific examples on how new EU regulations are in contrast with the pre-crisis model that is still being applied in the GATS negotiations, the Cariforum-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), and the EU-South Korea FTA.
Activists and campaigners demand turnaround in EPA negotiations
29-09-2009
Through a collective mass fax and e-mail action, more than 80 organisations in 30 countries across Europe, Africa and the Pacific have today called on decision-makers to fundamentally change the course of the ongoing negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union and ACP countries.
The financial crisis does not justify a WTO deal
19-03-2009
Many political leaders of the G-20 have been calling for the conclusion of the ‘Doha Round’ negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a solution to the financial crisis. However, they seem unaware of the implications of liberalisation and deregulation as negotiated in the agreement, especially in the financial sector.
Dangers of liberalisation under EPAs
25-09-2006
In two briefing papers SOMO researcher Myriam Vander Stichele describes the dangers of liberalisation under EPAs and the European lobby for investment.
