EU-US summit: dirty energy and deregulation | Friends of the Earth Europe

EU-US summit: dirty energy and deregulation | Friends of the Earth Europe

Traffic jams and confusion as Brussels closes down roads for Obama's
helicopter. But, we're taking a rather different view from the Friends
of the Earth office...

 

As US President Obama makes his first visit to Brussels and the EU
institutions today, Friends of the Earth is demanding that environmental
and health protection is put top of the agenda on both continents.

Obama
will meet European Commission President Barroso to discuss the ongoing
EU-US trade negotiations, energy issues and climate concerns, amongst
other things.

Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth US are highly concerned that an EU-US trade deal will undermine democracy,
and safeguards that protect people and the environment. Powerful
multinationals, including agri-business, are currently lobbying for the
deal to lead to weaker safeguards, under the guise of 'regulatory
coherence', on issues related to food and chemical safety, and GM crops.

Commenting on EU-US trade negotiations, Magda Stoczkiewicz, director of Friends of the Earth Europe said: "EU
and US leaders may be trading away environmental and health safeguards
for the sake of big business and short-sighted interests. The trade
talks could even hamper the ability of governments to protect their
citizens against the risks of shale gas, GM crops and dangerous food and
chemicals."

Energy will also be one of today's topics. The
two groups are calling on Obama to block Keystone XL, and for President
Barroso to implement the EU's Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) with a specific value for tar sands – to prevent tar sands from flooding the US and European markets.
Tar sands, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels in commercial production,
would undermine European climate policies on transport fuels. Concerns
remain that the FQD is being weakened by the trade talks [1] – its
implementation has already been delayed and it has disappeared from the
EU's future climate plans.

 

 

EU-US summit: dirty energy and deregulation