EU trade talks offer poor deal

EDITORIAL

Published: 1 Mar 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Should we trade poor people's lives with trade benefits for agro-industry corporations? This question has been posed by civic groups to the Yingluck Shinawatra government concerning the free-trade agreement negotiations between Thailand and the European Union. It is not the only question that needs to be answered, however.

The first round of the Thai-EU FTA negotiations will start next week in Belgium. Yet the public still knows little about how seriously this comprehensive trade package will affect the prices of medicines, seeds and other farm products now under the monopoly of pharma and agro industries.

The trade deal also poses a problematic issue for Thailand's sovereign rights if the government can be sued for issuing public interest laws that are perceived by big business to hurt their profits.

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tomb
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Discussion 9 : 01 Mar 2013 at 17.189
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Why does the writer of this article not put their name under it? Afraid too many readers will see through the non-existent research and the ridiculously chauvinistic approach?

This kind of article is a travesty of journalism and not worthy to be printed in a newspaper. Shame on the BKK Post for going along with it.
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watchdog
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Discussion 8 : 01 Mar 2013 at 16.538
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What do they teach in Thai economic courses these days? Mercantalism? All parties benefit from free and open trade, and the primairy beneficiaries of free trade are consumers, who are given more choice at lower prices. Free trade also offers dynamic benefits by motivating domestic producers to become more effecient so they can compete with foreign producers. This editorial gets it wrong in so many ways.
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Eric
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Discussion 7 : 01 Mar 2013 at 15.457
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Pete dis#6, The article made a statement about Thailand being disadvantage by trade package on seeds, medicines and other farm products but never explain how this conclusion was drawn. Free trade is about negotiation trade of what products we don't have or not able to produce cheaper. We are at the mercy of these foreign suppliers because we don't produce here or we have no economy of scale to produce cheaper. Are we? The article did not explain.
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pete
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Discussion 6 : 01 Mar 2013 at 12.556
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Sorry Eric, who is skewing what so badly and how. Yes it is absolutely right to have an opinion before talks commence, so poor journalism it most certainly isn’t. You say let the talks continue till all fairness has been considered, the article says “this bilateral trade deal is designed only to serve big business interests”. Is that fairness? Since when has fairness been a consideration of a government dominated by self-serving greedy politicians? Is that what you call xenophobia – most people would call it chauvinism.
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ATNN
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Discussion 5 : 01 Mar 2013 at 11.495
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Free trade, supranational unions (EU, NAFTA, ASEAN) are created of, by, and for big business. Thai people aren't calling for ASEAN or EU-FTA's, big business is. This is democracy in reverse, as it always has been. People should be devising their future, politicians carrying it out. Instead, they introduce ideas like ASEAN and convince us to go along. The EU is collapsing. Get clear of it, or go down with it.
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Eric
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Discussion 4 : 01 Mar 2013 at 09.404
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It is absolutely right for anyone to raise concern but to skew it so badly even before the trade negotiation has began is totally xenophobic. All rules of FTAs are set out in the WTO and article stating otherwise is poor journalism. Bilateral trade is not a one-all-fits-all and has to be negotiated which is exactly what happen next week. There is no conclusion yet and talks can carried out for considerable length of time until all fairness have been considered. BTW, Singapore and Malaysia have concluded the bilateral FTA and Vietnam has started its trade negotiation.
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Openshaw
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Discussion 3 : 01 Mar 2013 at 07.403
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Very biased article, which focuses only on the EU access to the Thai market. Where is the perceived increase in health costs coming from when superior quality EU sourced drugs will become cheaper because of less tax?

Sadly, these attitudes will only extend the global perception of Thailand being an insular and self seeking society that lives on copyright theft and illegal fake goods.
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pete
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Discussion 2 : 01 Mar 2013 at 07.242
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The government has always been unresponsive to public concerns about trade and will stamp ‘classified’ on figures that the public has a right to know.
Thai-EU FTA negotiations - classified.
Intellectual property rights infringement - classified
Government rice sales - classified.
Rice imports from Cambodia - classified.
Rice rotting in warehouses - classified.
Grey imports (luxury German, British, Italian cars) for politicians, elite, generals etc. - classified.
I could go on but BP doesn’t allow space.
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oldairman
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Discussion 1 : 01 Mar 2013 at 07.021
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Public health groups have also expressed concerns that cheaper alcohol and cigarettes as a result of the Thai-EU FTA will aggravate drinking and smoking problems and put pressure on the public health system.
Most of the people in rural Thailand who will be the worst hit don't actually drink French or German wine, eat Belgian chocolates or smoke imported tobacco. They drink Lao Khao and smoke Khrong Thip and just don't eat chocolate.
They do however use fertilisers and hospital services and the cost of them will rise and make the poor people poorer but as usual the rich won't notice or care.
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EU trade talks offer poor deal | Bangkok Post: opinion