ISDS Case Map
Africa
The European Union is determined to get those African countries on board which have so far kicked against the economic partnership agreements. A two-part article from Aileen Kwa.
Declaration of civil society organisations at the meeting of the Africa Trade Network, Cape Town, South Africa, 22 February 2008
Trade talks between the European Union and African countries have been a public relations "disaster" for the Brussels bureaucracy, a high-ranking official confessed Feb. 26.
The European Union has raised concerns about the speed at which African countries are moving towards negotiating for a comprehensive trade deal with Europe, which is expected to fast-track economic integration in the region ahead of the December deadline.
The economic partnership agreements (EPAs) currently being negotiated between Europe and its former colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions are not about equal partnerships but about enabling "big giant Europe to gain better access to African markets".
African Liberal parties, meeting in a General Assembly, that closed in Maputo on Saturday, have demanded that partnership agreements with the European Union should bring real advantages to Africa.
A part of the mass movement against the EU EPAs is drawing the conclusion that they have to find other partners in the fight against neo-liberalism. The coalition we need is an international one, of the working people and poor, that struggles against capitalism.
By offering itself to former colonies as a more attractive and respectful trading partner, China initiated Africa's refusal to put up with the EU's demanding policies.
Many free trade agreements have been signed and enacted into law by capitalist governments at the back of the working people. This is because the working people in Africa and other third world countries do not have political platform of their own.
The recent summit between African heads of states and the EU has shown that Europe has failed to move beyond their colonial-era past-times of economic and political bullying.
