Free Trade Agreements

Trade Agreement CETA threatens small and medium-scale livestock farms in Italy: ARI

CETA threatens small and medium-scale livestock farms in Italy; the risks of further economic (and therefore decision-making) reinforcement of a single industrial group on the entire dairy sector; unfair competition among imported products, especially cereals; the impact on Italian products still certified “free from GMOs,” which may be contaminated by seeds and reproductive materials imported from Canada.

Farmers’ protests in Europe and the deadend of neoliberalism

Since the 1980s, various regulations that ensured fair prices for European farmers have been dismantled. The EU put all its faith in free trade agreements, which placed all the world’s farmers in competition with each other, encouraging them to produce at the lowest possible price at the cost of their own incomes and growing debt.

Europe: ECVC puts forth concrete suggestions to guarantee fair prices to peasant farmers

In a press release issued on 27th February, the European Coordination Via Campesina demanded an obligation at the EU level to ensure prices paid to farmers cover the costs of production, including a decent income for the work of farmers and agricultural workers and their social security contributions. A new trade framework based on food sovereignty should be implemented.

26-29 February: La Via Campesina calls for a Week of Mobilization against the WTO

For more than a decade, the failure of this institution to reach a consensus on a lasting resolution for public food stocks clearly illustrates its alignment with the interests of the US, and other strong export-oriented countries. As the 13th Ministerial Meeting commences in Abu Dhabi on 26th February, La Via Campesina urges its members across countries to take to the streets and mobilize against the WTO.