The EU-Chile trade agreement prevents a global just social-ecological transformation
Berlin, 18 January: Before the vote on the enlarged EU-Chile trade and investment agreement in the EU Parliament's Trade Committee on 24 January More than 100 EU civil society organisations make a statement, in which they call on MEPs to vote against the agreement. This would increase the exploitation of raw materials in the South American country – without guaranteeing adequate protection for the climate and the environment or the rights of the local population to participate. In addition, it grants European corporations in Chile the right to sue for lost profits through the use of parallel justice. As with other agreements with special litigants, foreign corporations receive more rights than domestic ones, with which they can take action, for example, against climate protection measures such as production stops.
Bettina Müller, Trade and Investment Policy Officer: "Despite full-bodied promises by the EU Commission not to leave anyone, anywhere, in the context of the EU's green transformation, the EU-Chile Trade and Investment Agreement continues a trade policy that consolidates neocolonial exchanges: Your raw materials for our industrial transformation. A global just green transformation is different!”
On 23 January, the German non-governmental organisation PowerShift published the background brochure ‘Partnership on an equal footing? – The EU-Chile Trade Agreement”, with further information on the EU-Chile Trade and Investment Agreement. The publication can be found in advance in the annex.
In the webinar “Partnership on an equal footing? – The EU-Chile Trade and Investment Agreement’ on 23 January at 12:00, PowerShift presents the brochure and its assessment of the EU-Chile Agreement. More information and registration can be found here.
Press contact:
Bettina Müller, PowerShift Trade and Investment Policy Officer, bettina.mueller@power-shift.de, 0049 174 4537604
