From Washington Consensus to Vienna Consensus? The EU’s free trade agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean

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About from washington consensus to vienna consensus?

Authors

Authors

  • Roeline Knottnerus
  • Abel Esteban

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

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