CIVIL SOCIETY EXPRESSES CONCERNS ON PROPOSED EU-ASEAN FTA

Details

Civil society organisations from the EU and ASEAN joined together to express strong concerns over the proposed free trade agreement between the two regions.

Civil society groups from member countries of both the European Union (EU) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have expressed strong concerns on the proposed EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA), expected to be concluded in the next two years.

EU-ASEAN is currently embarking on possible negotiations on a major comprehensive FTA since ministers of both economic blocs have long floated the idea of creating a trade deal between the two regions.

However, activists claim that the decision to engage in such negotiations has occurred without prior public consultation—a clear violation of basic principles of democracy and human rights that the EU and ASEAN purport to support.

EU and ASEAN believe that such an agreement would be beneficial to both sides, as this will stimulate the economy of ASEAN members. But activists are saying otherwise.

Civil society organisations are highly concerned that the EU appears to be promoting anti-development policies, does not take into account the vast socio-economic disparities in ASEAN, and that the liberalisation of services at a WTO-plus level, given the dominance of EU services companies, will tend to outcompete ASEAN services providers, among others.

As such civil society groups from both the EU and ASEAN demand that people’s needs and rights should be at the centre of any economic development including trade arrangements. They are calling for political accountability on all economic decision-making processes, which entails civil society participation.

Sources:
“EU-ASEAN meeting to chart out road map for deepening ties” from bilaterals.org, posted on March 13, 2007, <http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=7418#forum587>.
“Statement of concern regarding the proposed EU-ASEAN free trade negotiations” from bilaterals.org, posted on February 15, 2007, <http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=7155#forum501>.