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[pf] Fw: "... they are terrified of Public Citizen"
by Jill Taylor Bussiere
23 November 2000 15:22 UTC

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> > In case you missed this.
> > We should point out that Public Citizen is NOT "led"
> > by Ralph Nader, as suggested below. Rather, though PC
> > was founded by Ralph some 30 years ago, he no longer
> > enjoys any control over the day-to-day operations of
> > the organization.  Our web site is www.citizen.org;
> > and if you would like to join Public Citizen, you may
> > do so there.
> > 
> > Mike Dolan
> > Deputy Director
> > Global Trade Watch
> > Public Citizen
> > _________________________
> > Trade protestors hit home
> > 
> > By Edward Alden in Cincinnati
> > Financial Times, November 19 2000
> > 
> > European and US government and business leaders sought
> > at the weekend to revitalise their troubled bilateral
> > trading relationship, but acknowledged that growing
> > public concern over trade liberalisation is stifling
> > further progress.
> > 
> > The high-level meeting of the Transatlantic Business
> > Dialogue took place as protesters battled police
> > outside a downtown Cincinnati hotel.
> > 
> > The demonstrations were the first in the six-year
> > history of the TABD, but have become a familiar
> > backdrop to international trade meetings since the
> > violent protests at last year's failed World Trade
> > Organisation ministerial in Seattle. More than 100
> > police in full riot gear, about a dozen of them on
> > horseback, ringed the hotel for the two-day meeting,
> > and 47 protestors were arrested in largely peaceful
> > demonstrations.
> > 
> > The protests have clearly rattled the confidence of
> > both political and business leaders, who spent much of
> > the two days debating how better to sell to the public
> > the benefits of freer trade.
> > 
> > "Everybody is more risk-averse than a few years ago,"
> > said Bertrand Collomb, chief executive of Lafarge and
> > European co-chair of the TABD. "They are being watched
> > by public opinion much more."
> > 
> > George David, chief executive of United Technologies
> > and the US co-chair, said "we would be foolish to fail
> > to listen to these demonstrators and their views".
> > 
> > In the final communique, the TABD said it must work
> > with non-governmental organisations and citizens'
> > groups "out of the conviction that globalisation is
> > not incompatible with their concerns".  "We have a
> > selling job," said Pascal Lamy, the EU's trade
> > commissioner. "We need to find new ways of getting
> > across the benefits of globalisation."
> > 
> > The fears over public reaction have already threatened
> > one of the TABD's highest priorities. At the urging of
> > the chief executives, the US and the EU plan a renewed
> > push this week to implement a mutual recognition
> > agreement that would make it easier for companies to
> > meet product safety specifications in both the US and
> > Europe. Businesses say such streamlining could shave
> > more than $1bn in costs on transatlantic trade.
> > 
> > US regulatory agencies have been reluctant to allow
> > European facilities to certify products as safe for
> > the US market, bringing the talks to a stalemate.
> > 
> > One European official said that the US stance has been
> > heavily influenced by the opponents of further trade
> > liberalisation. "They are terrified of the NGOs, they
> > are terrified of Public Citizen," he said, referring
> > to the consumer group led by Ralph Nader.
> > 
> > The US in turn says progress on regulatory
> > co-operation has been hampered by the European
> > unwillingness to allow greater transparency and
> > openness in its regulatory procedures to public
> > scrutiny.
> > 
> > The chief executives also urged much greater caution
> > in using the WTO's dispute settlement system, which
> > has failed to resolve several contentious US-EU trade
> > disputes and has stoked public fears of an
> > international agency overriding national sovereignty.
> > 
> > While business groups were originally strong
> > proponents of binding dispute settlement, the TABD
> > urged the two governments to exhaust all negotiating
> > possibilities before resorting to the WTO.
> > 
> > By Edward Alden in Cincinnati
> > Financial Times, November 19 2000