From Washington Consensus to Vienna Consensus?

Latin America will be high on the European Union's global strategy in
2007, as the EU looks to strengthen its bilateral trade and investment
relationships in the region. This was re-iterated by the EU Trade
Commission in its October 2006 strategy paper Global Europe - Competing
in the World, which priorities the pursuit of free trade agreements that
demand full liberalisation of financial flows, trade with and investment in
the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. In a period of suspension
of the WTO Doha Round the EU, acting under pressure from its transnational
corporations, is aggressively pursuing free trade agreements with
Mercosur, the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and Central America.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean region is included under the banner of
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) being pursued with the African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

This TNI Debate Paper, From Washington Consensus to Vienna Consensus?,
analyses the key issues which inform the context and agendas behind
these "new generation" free trade agreements between the EU and LAC
regions, and exposes how transnational corporations are setting the
terms of the negotiations. This publication aims to support the campaigns
of resistance to the corporate-driven EU free trade agenda while contributing
to the search for alternatives and building another world where a
just trade and investment regime will be made possible.

Download the report eulac-en.pdf (195 Kb)

* Introduction
* EU-LAC Association Agreements: neoliberalism european style
By Roelien Knotterus
* A critique of the EU-Latin America Business Summit in Vienna
By Abel Esteban
* Notes
* Bibliography