EU-Latin America summit under fire

NGOs will convene at the EU-Latin America Caribbean (LAC) summit to protest against Brussels’ promotion of free trade and privitisation.

More than 1,000 campaigners are expected to gather for an “alternative summit” that calls on the EU to start engaging more with civil society in Latin America. 

“In Vienna we will be calling on the EU to stop pushing for the privitisation of public services such as health, education and water,” Gérard Karlshausen of CNCD told reporters on Monday.

“There is a lack of contact with civil society at the moment. Although we see a lot of rhetoric on this issue in the European parliament, there is little space for the people of Latin America to give their opinions.”

On Thursday, commission president José Manuel Barroso, trade commissioner Peter Mandelson and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner will attend the EU-LAC summit in Vienna.

Topics are likely to include social cohesion, regional integration and multilateralism.

Trade will also feature high on the agenda, although efforts to sign a bilateral trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay has been stalled for some years now.

But campaigners accuse the EU of using free trade agreements to pursue a right wing agenda.

“Latin Americans have rejected neo-liberalism on the streets and, in several cases, in the ballot boxes too,” Gonzalo Berron of Hemispheric Social Alliance declared. 

“Our meeting in Vienna will send a clear message that we do not want neo-liberalism by the back door, in the shape of ‘strategic partnerships’ and interregional free trade strategies.”

Campaigners are also worried that by focusing on millennium development goals, the EU is taking its eye off the ball. 

“The millennium development goals focus on the consequences of poverty but they do not look at its causes. We do not think the EU is doing enough to address this – in particular, it is not doing enough to promote human rights in the region,” Karlshausen added. 

The alternative LAC summit begins on Thursday and is set to include speeches by Venezuelan  president, Hugo Chavez and Bolivian president Evo Morales.

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