The EU needs raw materials – and it is signing more and more trade agreements to secure its access to lithium, copper and the like. At the end of February, the vote on the EU-Chile Trade and Investment Agreement will be on the agenda of the European Parliament. The EU Commission speaks of a partnership on an equal footing, while civil society organisations from the EU and Chile denounce the neo-colonial nature of the agreement.
More than 500 civil society organisations and personalities from the EU and Latin America have already met in advance with a explanation and one Open letter to MEPs Calling on them to vote against the agreement. In doing so, they highlight the increasing extraction of raw materials such as lithium and copper without sufficient protection mechanisms and compliance with standards, and criticize the newly inserted corporate complaints law and the further reduction of tariffs for agricultural products. It is not for nothing that many of the current protests by smallholder farmers are explicitly directed against the signing of further free trade agreements.
In this episode, moderator Antonia Vangelista talks to Bettina Müller, Trade Officer at PowerShift, about what exactly is in the agreement and what impact it would have on people and the environment.
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English (US)