S&D (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats)
30-01-2012 Shell's involvement in armed conflict addressed by MEP Désir
According to a report from the British NGO Platform, the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell has actively fuelled conflict and violence in Nigeria. Shell would have paid nearly 120.000 euro to armed groups, causing hundreds of people fleeing their homes, getting tortured or executed. Read more »
11-01-2012 Concerns over minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), some of the critical mineral raw materials that are essential to EU markets are mined. These critical minerals are used for i.e. electronic devices. MEPs Dan Jørgensen (S&D) and Syed Kamall (ECR) have expressed their concerns on the mining of these minerals in the DRC. Read more »
28-11-2011 MEP Stihler questions EU cotton subsidies
In a written question to the Commission, MEP Catherine Stihler (S&D) points out that the EU cotton subsidies contribute to the artificially high price of cotton. The EU subsidies are worth more per pound of cotton than the price of which it is traded on global markets. This is disadvantageous for developing countries in West and Central Africa, where cotton production plays a major role for the economy. MEP Stihler asks the Commission why it excluded cotton subsidies from the CAP reform proposals and if the EU should not be leading the way for the US and China by revising its position on cotton subsidies. Read more »
28-11-2011 INTA adopts report on Trade and Investment Barriers
The committee on international trade (INTA) of the European Parliament has adopted a report on Trade and Investment Barriers, drafted by rapporteur Robert Sturdy (EPP). The main point made in the report is that removing or reducing non tariff barriers (NTBs) should be one of the key regulatory priorities of the new EU trade policy under the Europe 2020 strategy. Although in the draft report there is not much attention paid to development, several amendments have been written that take development into account. Read more »
08-11-2011 The Commission proposes Sustainable Fisheries Agreements
The Common Fisheries Policies (CFP) is currently being reformed. On the 13th July the European Commission presented its proposal for this reform which aims for sustainable fisheries worldwide. As one of the means to reach this goal, the Commission has proposed to transform the current Fisheries Partnership Agreement into Sustainable Fisheries Agreements (SFAs). These SFAs have to be focused on resource conservation and environmental sustainability, improved governance and effectiveness of sectoral support. Moreover, the Commission proposes that the SFAs should be based on the best available scientific advice, using the concept of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) as a reference. Read more »
10-10-2011 MEPs ask questions on the humanitarian emergency in the Mediterranean Sea
In the aftermath of the unrest in North-Africa, thousands of people have tried to flee to Europe by boats. Hundreds of them got shipwrecked in the Mediterranean Sea and are now dead or missing. Read more »
10-10-2011 MEP Koppa questions the Commission on illegally dumping of hazardous electronic waste in West Africa
Referring to information from the NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency, MEP Maria Eleni Koppa (S&D) posed questions about illegally exporting and dumping of hazardous electronic waste (e-waste) in third-world countries by British companies. Read more »
10-10-2011 MEP Cretu: fight corruption and illegal transfers of capital
Taxes are the most sustainable, stable and predictable form of income for governments. By increasing tax income, developing countries could become more independent from foreign loans and aid. Moreover, public sectors like education, health care and infrastructure are traditionally financed from tax revenues. Raising the tax income would mean more funds to invest in these sectors, which will promote development. Read more »
10-10-2011 DEVE report: Assisting developing countries in addressing food security
On behalf of the DEVE committee, Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NL), wrote the report: EU policy framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security. The achievements towards the MDG hunger target have shown to be insufficient. The number of hungry people, estimated by the FAO, has decreased after 2009, but is still greater than in 2008; food prices have been indicated as a factor leading to food insecurity. In this report some important calls are made, some of which are listed here: Read more »
28-06-2011 Raw Materials discussed thoroughly in the European Parliament!
On behalf of the ITRE committee, Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA) wrote 'an effective raw materials strategy for Europe' as the European industry is facing an increasingly difficult situation with regards to the supply of raw materials. This is particularly the case for the 14 critical raw materials, which the European Commission identified. Increasing global demand coupled with a lack of supplies due to long lead-times in the mining industry and the increased use of export restrictions by resource-rich countries, are not only pushing prices to record heights, as is the case with copper, but are also leading to potential supply shortages. Read more »
01-06-2011 MEP Tarabella questions the Commission on the privatisation of the coffee industry
The main source of income for Burundi is coffee production, covering 80% of its export revenues. The state of Burundi entirely controlled the coffee industry for many years until 1997. From then on the ownership was handed over to the coffee growers, enhanced by the World Bank. This privatisation excluded all Burundian companies from bidding in public procurement procedures, meaning that all coffee has to be sold unprocessed passing all their property rights on further down the chain where they are being snapped by foreign multinationals. Read more »
31-05-2011 A new trade strategy, report by INTA committee with an opinion by DEVE.
On behalf of the INTA committee, MEP Daniel Caspary (EPP) wrote the report: a new trade strategy for Europe under the EUROPE2020 Strategy. In this report he states that this modern trade policy should take account of other policy areas among which the EUs development policy. In the report it is stated that, the European Parliament supports the Commission in its goal to promote sustainable development, international labour standards and decent work, for example by negotiating EPAs, which are to combine European and ACP interests. According to MEP Caspary, the Commission should withdraw GSP benefits in the event of a GSP beneficiary country making use of unfair trade practices, as this would undermine other policies such as environment, development, research and foreign affairs. Read more »
12-05-2011 Will the CAP towards 2020: meet the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future?!
On behalf of the DEVE committee, MEP Arsenis (S&D) wrote an opinion in which he points out the concerns on the negative impact of CAP on developing countries. They regret that the Commissions communication on the CAP towards 2020 does not mention such impacts and calls for the new CAP to include the principle of do no harm to developing countries as a core objective. They call for the post-2013 CAP to eliminate all export subsidies and to decouple direct payments from production, so as to create a level playing field between EU and developing countries agricultural products. Read more »
12-05-2011 Raw Materials and transparency hot topic among various MEPs
The Raw Materials Initiative set up in 2008 leads to many discussion and questions among MEPs. In the first place this initiative could lock resource-rich developing countries in a situation where they have no choice but to remain net exporters of raw materials, instead of being given the chance to develop their own downstream industries and move up the value chain. This outcome conflicts sharply with EU developments objectives, as to better integrate developing countries on the world market. In the second place, the raw material industry is subject to many financial scandals. Read more »
12-05-2011 AFET report on migration flows
On behalf of the AFET committee in the EP, MEP Fiorello Provera (EFD) wrote a report on migration flows arising from instability. The main causes for these migration flows are wars, armed conflicts, ethnic tension, natural disasters, the lack of proper economic and democratic structures; which are a challenge for the European Union. The tension that these migrations cause are not only in the country of origin, but also between the countries of origin and the countries of transit. In order to meet this challenge effectively, the EU must implement a policy of prevention, employing the most appropriate foreign policy instruments in order to address the causes of instability directly so that emigration becomes an opportunity and not a necessity. Read more »
26-04-2011 MEP De Rossa questions the Council on the European Conflict Minerals law
MEP Proinsias De Rossa (S&D) asked a question to the Council on the European Conlflict Minerals law. In this question he wonders the response of the Council to the call on Failure in protection of human rights and justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Read more »
26-04-2011 De Rossa questions "brain drain"
MEP Proinsias De Rossa (S&D) asked a question on health brain drain from developing countries; he asked the Council how they responded to the need to address the issue of brain drain in the implementation of bilateral trade agreements, in particular in the health sector. Read more »
24-01-2011 MEPs worry about implementation of FLEGT
The European Parliament has been discussing two new Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with Cameroon and the Congo Brazzaville under the Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. MEPs Yannick Jadot on behalf of Greens/EFA, Catherine Bearder on behalf of ALDE, David Martin on behalf of S&D, Joe Higgins on behalf of GUE/NGL, and Daniel Caspary on behalf of EPP have expressed concerns about the implementation of the FLEGT. Also they wonder how the Commission is going to ensure the rights of local populations and how the EU is going to finance these schemes in the upcoming year. Lastly the MEPs want to know if the Commission will create more legislation to end deforestation. Read more »
24-01-2011 MEP Tarabella: effect EUs biofuel policy devastating
The EU has set a target on transport energy supply that by 2020 10% must come from renewable sources, mostly biofuels. This target has recently been attacked by many MEPs. The cause was the report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) which showed that biofuels will increase CO2 emissions instead of reducing them. In a written question MEP Marc Tarabella (S&D) added another report to the debate. The Tricontinental Centre (CETRI) was commissioned by the Belgium government to investigate biofuels. It concludes that the target will cause both social and evirnomental disasters in Soutern countries. Tarabella wonders how these effects could be prevented and asks the Commission to give a respons to CETRIs conclusions. Read more »
24-01-2011 FTA negotiations India pose threat for migrants and patients, according to MEPs Falbr and Smith
The European Commission is negotating a Free Trade Agremeent (FTA) with India. There have been several MEPs who already expressed concerns about these talks in the past. Recently MEP Richard Falbr (S&D) asked the Commission in a written question if India is insisting to include Mode 4 in the FTA. Mode 4 is part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This would create a new way for temporary labour migrants coming from third countries as part of trade agreements instead of immigration policies. It could be argued that this would create a chance for migrants, yet they would not be protected by the International Labour Organisations conventions. Moreover Falbr is wondering if the talks between India en the EU are done in secrecy, and only made public after an agreement is reached. Read more »
12-01-2011 ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly calls for PCD
Between November 30th and December 4th Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) met with parliamentarians form African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Resolutions on free and independent media, on technology transfer, new technologies and technical capacity building with regard to climate change, on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), on food security, and on the security problem in the Sahel-Saharan region were adopted in the 20th session. Read more »
12-01-2011 Biofuels under attack from MEPs
A decade ago, biofuels were seen as the answer to scarce and polluting fossil fuel sources. The European Union (EU) jumped on board of this idea, aiming at a 10% share of renewable energies in transport fuels by 2020. Biofuels were to provide at least half of the share, and therefore the EU provided subsidises to increase production. However it soon became clear that the benefits of biofuels were smaller than the damage it was causing. In general, biofuels are not sustainable since they do not produce less CO2 than fossil fuels. In November 2010 the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) published a report about this, called Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels and Bioliquids in the EU An Analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans. Read more »
02-12-2010 S&D MEPs advocate for new European law for the extractive industry
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the best known example of a country suffering from the resource curse. When looking at the natural resources reserves it is one of the richest countries is the world, since it has for instance 80% of the worlds coltan reserves and 30% of the diamonds reserves. Yet today the DRC is one of the poorest countries where human rights are violated on a daily basis. Two S&D MEPs Marc Tarabella and Ana Gomes asked questions to both the European Council and the European Commission about the relationship between resources and the desperate human rights situation. Read more »
23-11-2010 MEP Childers asks Commission how to eradicate TB
World wide millions of people die from Tuberculosis (TB). In Europe TB is eradicated, unfortunately this disease remains wide spread in developing countries. TB, together with malaria and AIDS, is considered one of the three big killers, nevertheless it remains a neglected disease. MEP Childers (S&D) mentions that Catherine Ashton, vice president of the Commission plans to finance vaccination programmes in Africa and South-East Asia, and thus he asked the Commission how they are going to eradicate TB world wide. Read more »
10-11-2010 European Parliament opens debate on CAP reform: round 1
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), one of the most important EU policies as it concerns about 40% of the EUs budget is due to be reformed in 2013. If there is one topic that is bound to generate emotional discussions, it is the CAP. Everybody remembers the farmers who spilt their milk in the parks of Brussels in 2009, demanding support for the dropped market prices. Read more »
21-10-2010 The EP on CSR in International Trade Agreements
The topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was raised in the 1990s when scandals of horrible working conditions in plants owned by Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in developing countries made headlines in the media. Companies causing these scandals saw the negative impact on their revenues and quickly adopted CSR programmes. In the following years many small and big companies were to follow, yet too often the working conditions have not improved. Read more »
18-10-2010 MEP Guerrero Salom concerned about food security
Millennium Development Goal (MDG) one, is aimed at ending hunger and poverty worldwide. Today 925 million people do not have enough to eat. The food crisis of 2007-2008 only emphasized the importance of this first goal, and demonstrated how easily progress can evaporate when market prices start to rise. In order to fight this problem the Commission has installed a fund for a rapid EU response when this occurs again. This is only one example of how the EU is committed to the MDGs. Read more »
06-10-2010 MEP Kriton Arsenis amends draft opinion FPA EU and Solomon Islands
MEP Kriton Arsenis (S&D) introduced an amendment on a opinion written on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of a Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the Solomon Islands and the EU. Arsenis raised concerns about the development and sustainability of the local fisheries and the involved industries on the Solomon Islands. Read more »
21-09-2010 MEP Proinsias De Rossa asks questions about the Resolution on PCD and ODA+
After the resolution of the European Parliament on The EU Policy Coherence for Development and the Official Development Assistance plus concept was approved, Member of European Parliament (MEP) Proinsias De Rossa (S&D) raised questions about this to both the Council and the Commission. First De Rossa asked the Council what the response will be in bilateral trade agreements and the emphasis that needs to be put on brain drain, as was stated in the resolution. Read more »
17-06-2010 EU Policy Coherence for MDGs
The parliamentary report by MEP Michael Cashman (S&D) on progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): mid-term review in preparation of the UN high-level meeting in September 2010 was adopted in Plenary on the 15th of June, 2010. In this report the DEVE Committee highlights that policy coherence for development (PCD) is one of the tools for making progress towards the MDGs. Read more »
07-06-2010 Debating the Future of the CAP
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is momentarily under review because it will be reformed in 2013. The Civil Society, Member States, the Commission and the European Parliament therefore try to get as much of their opinions on the matter heard. MEP George Lyon (ALDE) member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development was responsible for drafting up an own initiative report on the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy. Although his draft was well written with concerns for growing world population, food security, financial crisis, growing oil prices, climate change and unfair trade, it was hardly critical on the negative effect the CAP has had on developing countries and their agricultural sectors. Many amendments on the other hand give hope that the report will lead to more EU Policy Coherence for Development. Read more »
31-05-2010 MEPs Concerned about Unfair Migration Policies
At the heart of both migration and development are human beings who are entitled to human rights. The right to emigrate is a fundamental right embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. MEPs Helene Flautre (Greens/EFA) Ana Gomes (S&D) Rui Tavares (GUE/NGL) Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL) and Sonia Alfano (ALDE) are concerned for the human rights of migrants that are violated by and in Europe. Read more »
26-05-2010 PCD in Colombia FTA negotiations
With the adoption of the Report on EU Policy Coherence for Development in the plenary session mid may, the Parliament officially asks the Comission to include legally binding social and enviromental standards systematically in trade agreements negotiated by the EU, in order to promote the objective of trade working for development. In this context Marc Tarabella (S&D) asks the Council whether the social and enviromental standards have been assessed in the talks with Colombia concerning a free trade agreement. The EU has dedicated itself to eradicating poverty in its Development Policy and therefore must ensure that other policies do not counteract any efforts to fight poverty. Trade agreements are notorious for being incoherent with the development policy, due to some side effects like unemployment, collapse of local industry and unfair competition. Tarabella is aknowledged as a Fair Politician for bringing Policy Coherence for Development to the attention of the Council and for his efforts to make EU policies more fair. Read more »
26-05-2010 MEPs bring IPR to the Attention of the Commission this Spring
Thijs Berman (S&D), Maria Eleni Koppa (S&D), Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) and Joao Ferreira (GUE/NGL) all separately asked parliamentary questions concerning Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and access to affordable medicines. Read more »
27-04-2010 DEVE Submits Amendments on PCD Report
On the 26th of April the DEVE Committee came together to vote on the Amendments submitted by the different members of European Parliament (MEPs) to the Report on EU Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) and the 'Official Development Assistance plus (ODA+) Concept.' Although there were 120 amendments to the report that Franziska Keller drafted as rapporteur, most amendments concerned rephrasing and additional concrete examples of incoherence, making the report stronger. A long list of MEPs contributed to those improvement. Read more »
01-04-2010 MEP Neuser Raises Concern for Brain Drain at JPA
Norbert Neuser, from the Socialists & Democrats, asks the Commission what the EU is doing to mitigate the impacts of international migration of health personnel. He raises the concern for the shortage of health workers in ACP countries, due to the increased demand and competition for medical and nursing staff in the EU and other OECD countries. He points out that one in four doctors and one in twenty nurses trained in Africa are working in Europe, Canada and the USA. This lack of health workers is a key constraint for local health systems in poor countries are therefore something needs to done about it. Read more »
01-04-2010 MEP Martin asks about TRIPs at JPA
David Martin, from the Socialists & Democrats Group, asks the Commission to comment on the negotiations concerning TRIPs plus provisions within the bilateral trade agreements with ACP countries. He expresses his concerns for the access to medicines in developing countries. Read more »
01-04-2010 MEP Christensen concerned about Biofuels
Biofuels and Agrifuels are a relatively climate friendly source of energy. Therefore the EU has set targets for the use of biofuels in the transport sector. The problem with these new fuels is that they are not environmentally or socially sustainable due to the large amounts of water and land that needs to be rebuilt for the production. Ole Christensen (S&D) asks both the EU and the ACP Councils how they will ensure that there will be no displacement effect in the form of an increase in unsustainable cultivation of natural areas. Read more »
01-04-2010 MEP Arif Reminds Commission of Article 12 at JPA
Article 12 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement is an article on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). It states that ACP countries can consult the European Commission if policies of the EU affect the development objectives or ACP countries or development policy of the EU itself. Although there are many examples where this incoherence is the case, there has only been one case of consultations. The promotion, explanation and transparency of this article is therefore necessary. Read more »
09-03-2010 MEPs Submit Amendments to INTA Opinion on PCD
On the 2nd of February the amendments on the INTA Draft Opinion on EU Policy Coherence for Development and the Official Development Assistance plus concept by Joe Higgins were due. On the 23rd of February, these amendments were voted on. All in all the amendments were a reflection of the never ending debate on neoliberalism and the international capitalist system within the committee on international trade; the EPP and the ECR versus the Greens and S&D. Some really good amendments were written, with references to incoherences that Fair Politics has also tackled like TRIPS and access to medicines, biofuels, agricultural subsidies, migration issues and partnership agreements with ACP countries. Despite this, some of these amendments were not adopted and amendments that were less progressive towards PCD, were. Read more »
01-03-2010 MEP Guerrero Salom Drafts Report on the Effects of the Financial Crisis
Developing countries are not the root or cause of the financial crisis, yet the effects of it have shown to be devastating for the poorer countries. It has become an economic, social, development and humanitarian crisis. Every field of activity has been effected. Unemployment levels have increased, there has been more migration and therefore brain drain, drop in prices of raw materials, decrease in development finance, greater debts and especially a drop in trade. The EU has increased its trade restrictions to protect its own market and has cut back on all development efforts. Within the Development Committee (DEVE) of the European Parliament, an own initiative report was taken up on this subject, with Enrique Guerrero Salom as rapporteur. Read more »
19-02-2010 MEP Guerrero Salom asks about Illicit Financial Flows
MEP Enrique Guerrero Salom expresses his concerns for the illicit financial flows that come from developing countries. He quotes the World Bank, stating that about 500 to 800 billion dollars in illicit finances flow comes from developing countries, which drain hard currency reserves, increases inflation and reduces tax revenues that undercut the opportunities that developing countries have to develop. Read more »
02-02-2010 ECON: Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters
In February a Report on Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, was adopted. Improving tax governance is extremely important for development efforts. Tax revenue has proven to be the most predictable, sustainable and safe source of financing for development. Yet developing countries loose up to seven times the amount of the total development aid in illicit financial flows, tax evasion and avoidance. Leonardo Domenici (S&D), rapporteur of the report, introduces the sense of urgency to promote good governance in tax matters in his draft, but focuses on issues within the EU itself and fails to mention the effect of translucent banking and taxing systems have on developing countries. Read more »
27-01-2010 CFP in Review: Parliaments reactions to Commissions Green Paper
In January the Committee on Fisheries (PECH) adopted the report on the Green Paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). There are serious flaws in the current CFP, many of which concern the external relations (Fisheries Partnership Agreements, FPAs) and effects on third countries. The Commission recognizes these flaws and therefore published a Green Report on which reactions were welcomed, in preparation for the necessary reform of the CFP in 2012. The PECH Committee in the Parliament therefore reported their reaction and appointed Maria do Céu Partrao Neves as rapporteur. Read more »
18-12-2009 ACP-EU JPA Question by MEP Martin on Access to Medicines
As one can read in the Fair Politics Case Study on TRIPS and Medicines, the access to medicines for developing countries is of often difficult. Although the medicines exist, patients in developing countries can commonly not afford them due to the patents on the drugs. The development efforts of the EU prioritize access to affordable medicines for developing countries, but trade, industry and enterprise policies delay and complicate the access because of beliefs in the innovative force of intellectual property rights. Read more »
18-12-2009 ACP-EU JPA Question by MEP Kader Arif on EPA
The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and ACP Countries were initially meant to merge development policy and trade policy into a comprehensive framework with the Cotonou agreement and in order to promote regional integration. Negotiations on regional agreements have been extremely difficult, and therefore interim EPAs have been signed with individual ACP countries, on the basis on regional negotiations. These interim EPAs only reinforce disintegration and trade policies that have had a strong priority over development policies in the agreements, creating incoherence between the two areas. Read more »
14-12-2009 The Second Revision of the Cotonou Agreement
The Cotonou Agreement which was signed in June 2000, between the African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) Countries (most of them former colonies of Europe) introduced some radical changes in the past ACP-EU cooperation. The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) were one of those changes. Within these partnership agreements there are incoherencies with the EU development policy that are harming the development process of third countries (see case study). Article 95 of the Agreements states that the agreements itself needs to be reviewed every five years. Therefore the European institutions, including the parliament have been giving their opinions on the matter. Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Eva Joly, chairwoman of the Development Committee (DEVE), was responsible for drafting the report titled "the second revision of the Partnership Agreement ACP-EU." Read more »
25-09-2009 MEP Asa Westlund (S&D) concerned about EU demands in IPR in different Latin American negotiations
MEP Asa Westlund (S&D) asked the Commission whether it was true that they are negotiating an extension of patent terms and protection of data for medicine, as well as removing the Doha exception, in the negotiations with Peru and Colombia, but also with Central America. Read more »
05-08-2009 True impact studies on EPAs: a myth?
When the EU signed the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Cameroon, as it has with other developing countries, its was claimed by the Commission that many impact studies had been done. Kader Arif (S&D) questions both this claim as studies are hard to find - and the fact that any impact study where available seriously proves the benefits of the agreement. Read more »
29-07-2009 MEPs concerned about Uzbeki children
Different MEPs from parties such as the ECR, ALDE and S&D have raised the issue of forced child labour that is used by the Uzbeki government in order to provide for harvest of their cotton each year. While this led to a call for boycott by the World Fair Trade Organisation, the EU the biggest single destination for Uzbek cotton continued importing the product under the preferential system. Graham Watson (ALDE) particularly highlights the incoherence of this by referring to the commitments the Commission made to eradicating child labour at a global level. We would like to thank Bill Newton Dunn (ALDE), Roger Helmer (ECR), Graham Watson (ALDE), Claude Moraes (S&D) and Charles Tannock (ECR) for raising this issue. Read more »
14-07-2009 MEP Claude Moraes wants to be sure EPA's will serve development
Claude Moraes (S&D) rightly asks the Commission how they will safeguard development needs of West African states in the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. Read more »
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