EU India FTA Briefing Part7of8

Briefing meeting on EU-India FTA
with D. Raja, Member of Parliament, India &
Franziska Keller, Member of European Parliament
by the Forum against FTAs 13th November, 2010, Constitution Club, New Delhi.

The Indian government has signed, is set to sign or is negotiating close to 30 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including a few with developed countries like the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and Japan. The EU-India FTA, proposed to be signed by the end of this year, binds India into irreversible commitments in multiple areas like trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services, foreign investment regulations, intellectual property rights, and government purchases.

Many of these commitments go beyond the commitments taken by India in the World Trade Organisation, impose heavy obligations and have the ability to significantly restrict India's regulatory space. It has the ability to significantly impact livelihoods, incomes and other social and economic conditions, including access to food and health.

Further, such agreements are being signed in secrecy, without adequate consultation with stakeholders including farmers, indigenous communities, small industries and businesses, women's groups, food right groups, retailers and even with national parliaments or with state governments. Not only is this undemocratic, but it violates the Federal Structure of the Indian State.

In this context, the Forum against FTAs organised a briefing meeting to raise concerns and interact with Communist Party of India Member of Parliament, D. Raja and Green Party Member of the European Parliament,
Ms Franziska Keller. This is one of a series of 8 clips that give an account of the issues raised during the meeting.

Get in touch/get involved: forum.a.ftas@gmail.com

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• EU
• India
• FTA
• Briefing
• Free
• Trade
• Agreements
• Investment
• European
• Union
• retail
• financial
• services
• trade
• in