Later, representatives of organizations like the Birregional Network Linking Alternatives, the Continental Social Alliance, the Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations – CAOI, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean, the Transnational Institute, Ecologistas en Acción and Oxfam, will appear in a hearing before MEPs. They will present them with evidence of the consequences of the free trade policy of the bloc towards the global South and their own peoples.

The mobilization in the Rond-Point Schuman region of Brussels such as the meeting of community MPs, will serve as preparation for the social summit Linking Alternatives 4, scheduled for next May in Madrid, which coincides with the kickoff of the Spanish presidency in the EU.

The call for the activity read “The EU is very pleasing and tolerant with the governments that implement neoliberal policies to benefit transnational corporations, not matter if they commit massive human rights abuses, such as the Colombian government, or even dictatorships, such as the case of Honduras”.

Real World Radio interviewed Anna Camposampiero, of the Party for the Communist Refoundation of Italy, a party that is part of the bloc called European Left.

The trade policy expressed as the fundamental part of the European foreign policy captured in the 2006 document on Global Europe, not only affects the countries that accept Association Agreements in the form of Free Trade Agreements, but they also affect the division of labor within the bloc.

In fact, the delocalization of many industries inside Europe from the Central to the Eastern countries would imply the loss of a million jobs in Central Europe, she said.

The left is making its way

The recent elections of the European Parliament favored the most conservative positions and that is reflected in Italy, for instance, which has no left wing MEPs.

Linking Alternatives 4

We finally spoke with Anna about what the intercontinental meeting Linking Alternatives 4 will mean. It will be held in May of 2010 in Madrid, in parallel to the Summit of Heads of State of the EU, when Spain takes the presidency of the bloc.

“It will be a good chance to include the alternatives that the social movements propose to this development model we reject. The Permanent Peoples Tribunal will try cases filed about the behavior of transnational corporations in Latin America and the EU’s role there”, she said.