Brussels, 24/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht has fiercely criticised the campaign, headed by the organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) and development NGOs, which has accused the European Commission of preventing developing countries from obtaining access to medicines due to the terms of the EU's trade policy. At a meeting on Thursday 23 February with representatives from three big Belgian trade unions and from CNCD-11-11-11, the umbrella organisation of the Belgian French speaking development co-operation NGOs, the commissioner claimed: “What the NGOs are saying is manifestly untrue!” De Gucht deplored the fact that he had been bombarded with letters from the Hands Off Our Medicine campaign, which accuses the Commission of “pushing trade policies and agreements that will greatly restrict access to affordable medicines for people in developing countries”. “If you continue to pursue your actions, people who rely on these medicines to stay alive will be left without a lifeline and many are likely to die”, explains MSF, which urges the European Commission to stop pushing for provisions in free trade agreements that are harmful to the production of affordable generic medicines, or aim to restrict it, like the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement, ACTA. (EH/transl.fl)