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Launched at the occassion of the European Business Summit taking place in Brussels, June 9-11.
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- From Seattle to Brussels -
We, members of civil society from various European countries, endorse the decision at the NGO-meeting in May 2000 in Brussels to take forward the resistance to corporate-led globalisation articulated in recent protests, such as in Seattle. We believe it is crucial to use this moment as an opportunity to change course and develop an alternative humane, democratically accountable and sustainable system of commerce that benefits all.
We fully endorse the "Boston Declaration - WTO: Shrink or Sink!" and commit ourselves to ensuring that these demands become central to trade policies in Europe.
We are deeply concerned and seek to reverse the fact that:
- the European Union is driving an increasingly neoliberal agenda via a push for a comprehensive new WTO trade round, despite the objection of the majority of WTO member states;
- from Leon Brittan to Pascal Lamy, the European Commission has been at the forefront of pushing this process internationally;
- this is an agenda driven and shaped by transnational corporations through such groupings as the Union of Industrial and Employers Confederations of Europe (UNICE) and the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) aided by the lack of transparency and democracy within the European institutions;
- the European Commission attempts to control civil society input via incorrectly named 'dialogues'. These EC-controlled 'dialogues' seek only to discuss modalities for a new round rather than engaging in a broad and open public debate.
- this trade policy is untransparent, unaccountable, and is being developed by EU bureaucrats at the expense of democratic control and is adversely affecting basic human rights and the environment;
- the secretive 133 Committee is at the core of EU trade policy;
- the European Commission attempts to extend its negotiating competence in the area of services, intellectual property, and investment in the context of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC);
In light of this, we do not view the EU institutions as partners but as targets. We will work on all levels to achieve a turnaround from the present neoliberal path, towards an alternative economic system that protects the basic rights of people and the environment.
The following organisations have signed (7th of June):
A SEED Europe (Europe)
AIB-LAI /Anti-Imperialist League (Belgium)
Aktionszentrum 3.Welt (Hamburg-Germany)
Association Transnationale (France)
ATTAC (France)
Bayan International (Europe)
CADTM/The Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World Debt (Belgium)
Center for Encounters and Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl (Austria)
CIDAC (Portugal)
Cirencester Friends of the Earth (UK)
CNCD (Belgium)
Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (Belgium)
Corporate Europe Observatory (Netherlands)
CPE (Coordination Paysanne Europeenne/European Farmers Coordination)
Droits Devant! (France)
Enhedslisten/Red Green Alliance (Denmark)
Fair Trade Centre (Belgium)
Framtiden i Våra Händer (Sweden)
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland (UK)
Friends of the Earth Finland (Finland)
Friends of the Earth Slovakia (Slovakia)
Informationsgruppe Lateinamerika (Austria)
Institut pour la Rélocalisation de l'Economie (France)
International Boernesolidaritet (Denmark)
Internationalt Forum (Denmark)
Jord-og Betonarbejdernes fagforening -Kbh. (Denmark)
Le cri (France)
L'Ocelle (France)
Magasins du Monde-OXFAM (Belgium)
Medical Aid for the Third World (Belgium)
Mellemamerika Komitéen (Denmark)
Miljöforbundet/ Friends of the Earth Sweden (Sweden)
NCOS (Belgium)
Norges Naturvernforbund/Friends of the Earth Norway (Norway)
Observatoire de la Mondialisation (France)
Oekotrans (Denmark)
Oxfam-Solidarity (Belgium)
Oxfam-Wereldwinkels (Belgium)
People & Planet (UK)
PLAGE, Salzburg (Austria)
Rebel (Denmark)
Rete di Lilliput (Italy)
Roed Ungdom (Denmark)
Salzburg Forum against MAI/WTO (Austria)
SOS WTO (Denmark)
Spidsroden (Denmark)
Stop Millennium Round Campaign (Italy)
Swindon Friends of the Earth (UK)
The Network Against Corporate Rule and Neoliberal Policy (Germany)
Tinku-Danmark (Denmark)
Towards a Different Europe (Netherlands)
Transnational Institute (Netherlands)
Watford Friends of the Earth (UK)
Weltladen-Dachverband e.V. (German World Shop Association)
Working Group Against MAI and Globalisation (Turkey)
World Development Movement (UK)
World Voices (UK)
European (continental Europe not just EU!) groups wishing to endorse the statement can contact Kenneth Haar <Kenneth.Haar@ft.dk>
Paulus Potterstraat 201071 DA Amsterdam
