Date: 15 February 2011

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2011/02/15/eu-sued-over-india-trade-talks/

Brussels can’t yet match Washington for the packs of watchdogs following the workings of a sprawling lobbyist-infested bureaucracy loaded with other people’s money to spend.

But that is changing as the EU gets bigger, richer and more powerful. On Tuesday, the Corporate Europe Observatory, a left-wing advocacy group backed by Quaker organizations, said it was suing the European 
Commission for refusing to release details of its negotiating position in ongoing free trade talks with India.

As an example, the Observatory has published a letter sent to industry umbrella group BusinessEurope with a portion deleted.

“They released this information to lobby groups, so we think it should be public,” said Pia Eberhardt, an officer working on the campaign.  “We’ve been faced for years with delaying tactics and heavy censorship.”

EU officials say they have cooperated as much as possible with monitoring groups, but that it would defeat the point of holding negotiations if they were to divulge all the details of their positions.

Corporate Europe Observatory is one of 200 groups trying to block free trade talks with India, which they say will increase inequality and hurt farmers on the subcontinent. Negotiators say they expect to close talks by the end of 2011.

The case will be heard by the EU’s Luxembourg-based General Court. The Commission now has a little more than two months to respond.

Keywords: EU / India / Trade