Memo
The EU-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations: Gender and social justice concerns.
The EU-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations: Gender and social justice concerns
A memo for Members of the European Parliament.
In April 2007, the European Commission (EC) Directorates-General (DG) for Trade received a negotiating mandate from the Council of Ministers to launch bi-lateral negotiations on a far-reaching and ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India, following their common declaration of a Strategic Partnership in 2004. The mandate is an integral part of the EC Communication “Global Europe: Competing in the World” published in October 2006 which orients EU trade policy. The strategy seeks to reinforce the competitiveness of the EU and its related industries by focussing on further market opening, improving access to resources including energy, metals and primary raw materials and targeting behind the border (non-tariff) barriers1 in partner countries.2 The FTA should also be seen in relation to the current EU framework for cooperation under the Development Cooperation Instrument (2007-2013). The envisaged FTA is likely to cover not only tariff reduction to trade in goods, but also demands related to non-tariff barriers on goods, services and investment. Official negotiations started the 28 June 2007 and up to now seven rounds of negotiations have taken place. The focus of the FTA is on ensuring EU’s competitiveness and so far little consideration is given to sustainable development, gender equality and social justice objectives in spite of the fact that the agreement will have major implications for policy space, people’s livelihoods and well-being. WIDE and other European and Indian women’s organisations and civil society organisations (CSOs) therefore will continue to raise concerns about possible harmful gender, social, environmental and development impacts of this agreement and propose alternatives to address these concerns.
A memo on gender and social justice concerns in the framework of the ongoing free trade agreement negotiations between India and the EU.
Written by Laura Paulus
WIDE gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Heinrich Böll Foundation for the production of this publication. The views expressed herein are those of the author and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Copyright © September 2009 WIDE
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