Brussels, 02/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the European Parliament, only Daniel Caspary (EPP, Germany) welcomed the free trade agreement concluded on Saturday 27 February in Brussels between the EU, Colombia and Peru, as part of the association agreements. In a press release, he asserted that “this agreement is an important step towards new opportunities for our exporters in Latin America. I also hope that it will strengthen our links in the domain of culture and civil society”. The Greens/EFA did not share the same point of view. In a press release Catherine Grèze from France stated: “Although in the development committee, the Greens/EFA managed to obtain an investigation challenging the preferential status obtained by Columbia due to certain doubts regarding respect for human rights in the country, the European Commission has definitively concluded free trade agreements and has bypassed this question. These agreements constitute a real insult to the European Parliament, whose powers have increased under the Lisbon Treaty”. Speaking on behalf of the GUE/NGL, Helmut Scholz denounced this agreement as a “step in a questionable direction”. In a reference to Bolivia and Ecuador (which withdrew from the negotiations), the German MEP said that “the original approach of the EU to conclude trade agreements on the basis of regional cooperation is deeply damaged by such isolated agreements with just two countries. This seriously undermines the regional integration of the Andean countries”. (Ed: the original agreement aimed to establish an agreement with four countries from the Andean community). Mr Scholz asserted that “furthermore, in rushing to conclude these negotiations with the two governments with the worst human rights records, the European Commission is sending a message that it is giving priority to business interests over civil liberties and democracy”. Opposition to a rapid signing of an agreement on free trade between the EU, Columbia and Peru is developing among certain elements of civil society in the two countries and in Europe, due to the substance of the agreement and the situation regarding human rights in these two countries. Faced with the murders of trade unionists in Colombia (the GUE/NGL points out, quoting figures from the European Trade Union Confederation, that these murders account for 60% of all murders of trade unionists in our world). The Greens had already requested a freezing on these negotiations with Bogotá at the end of January (EUROPE 10064). The Greens/EFA and the GUE/NGL are now denouncing the fact that there was an insufficient awareness (in the context of the free trade bilateral agreements) of human rights, good governance and respect of the ILO agreements on the right to work and environmental concerns. In a letter dated 22 February and sent to the European commissioner for trade, Karel De Gucht, four South American NGOs and (ALOP, OIDHACO, Grupo Sur and Red UE-CAN) criticise the insufficient human rights clause, which included suspension of the agreement in the event of any breaches being committed. The NGOs deplore the fact that the democratic clause does not offer any concrete mechanisms of total or partial suspension of the agreement. They also denounced the insufficient chapter on agreements concluded with Colombia and Peru in the context of social and environmental standards and the demands included in the current system of generalised preferences, which the two countries benefit from. (E.H./transl.fl)