Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-16-Speech-4-103"
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"en.20000316.3.4-103"2
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"I voted against the EUMexico agreement, not because I am against more intensive cooperation between the European Union and Mexico in principle, but because the agreement, in its form for the purpose of the vote, is unbalanced and flawed from a development policy point of view.
Never before has Mexico made so many concessions to a much stronger trading partner as it is now making to the European Union. The impact on Mexico cannot be quantified, although the NAFTA agreement has already resulted in the impoverishment of large sections of the Mexican population and the demise of small undertakings. The rules of the agreement on which we have voted go even further than those of the NAFTA agreement. For example, the liberalisation of investments which is championed covers all sectors of the economy. In other words it is a mini-MAI. The drop in the standard of living and the inequalities between the European Union and Mexico which already exist will be exacerbated yet further. Whereas Mexico has been required to make numerous concessions to Europe (such as in the agricultural, investment and public procurement sectors), the EU has included derogations and restrictions for itself in order to keep competition at bay.
It is obvious that the European side, especially Europe’s large corporate groups, will profit from the agreement with Mexico. It is a gift to large-scale European industry. However, it will do nothing to improve the living and working conditions of the Mexicans, on the contrary. There is no mention in the agreement of employee rights or social standards. It contradicts development policy objectives and for this reason among others Mexican NGOs and other parties have asked their Senate not to sign this agreement.
The EU is trying to use individual agreements with developing and newly-industrialised countries in order to implement what it failed to achieve at the WTO conference of ministers in Seattle, partly due to the resistance of developing countries. Its main objective in the present case is to gain access to the lucrative NAFTA area via Mexico. The living conditions of the people have been disregarded.
This agreement does not bring about the progress needed in relations between Europe and Mexico, nor is it a suitable model for similar agreements to be concluded in the future, for example with Mercosur. Agreements with developing countries must serve their interests first and foremost, not the interests of European corporate groups."@en1
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