'The Great Disconnect': Why EU trade policy and climate are running into the sand
For decades, the EU was reluctant to use trade agreements as a Trojan Horse for environmental and other “non-trade issues”. Don’t mix trade with other issues. It's not a means to an end. “Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” was how one European Commissioner dubbed it. That worked until the 1999 WTO Ministerial, where dockers, NGOs and unions conspired — egged on by the US — to destroy the Ministerial (as well as the window of Starbucks where I was sheltering from teargas) due to WTO’s apparent lack of care for environment, human rights or development. The “Battle of Seattle” led to seriou...