(EU) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR)? - FDCL

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64 America. Also the issue of human rights in their indivisibility, which do not only contain the civic-political rights of the “Civil Defense Act”, 159 but also economic, social and cultural human rights, 160 do not seem to constitute a basic role model for the actions of European transnational corporations. Europe’s economic interest in the Latin American countries is not uniform: In the course of the privatizations and liberalizations of the last few years Spanish corporations above all have tried to take over entire economic sectors by buying state owned companies all over Latin America. German corporations, for example, which traditionally have a relatively strong presence in Latin American domestic markets, have not participated in this wave of takeovers. Dutch corporations, on the other hand, who had participated in the takeovers in the nineties to a minor - but nonetheless significant – extent, are once again partially pulling out: The Dutch retail corporation Ahold, confronted with payment difficulties, is just one example of this. 161 Other European corporations have also backed out of Latin America: For example, the French Crédit Agricoles and the ScotiaBank, which as a result of the Argentine crises pulled out of Argentina. This retreat can nonetheless be seen in the global decrease of foreign investment flows. 162 International capital flows in terms of FDI can be explained to a large extent by cash flows in the area of M&A. 163 Throughout Latin America the market for M&A in the first half of 2003 has shown clear signs that Latin American companies have been increasingly positioning themselves (Latin American M&As accounted for 62.5 % of the total at the end of June 2003, according to estimates from Thomson Financial). This is, however, most likely due to the drawback of European and North American companies. At the same time it has to be mentioned that reinvestment using acquired cash-flows made by foreign companies who already reside in Latin America is statistically not treated as foreign capital, just as the country specific classification of FDI-flows, which pass through so-called tax havens, is not possible: “It is striking that, according to the estimates of central banks and ministries from Latin America, one fifth of FDI comes from other countries, i.e., primarily from tax havens. But tax havens seem to merely be of transitional nature for investment by companies from the industrial countries, yet statistics of the industrial countries give similar numbers for the direct investment of their 159 Adopted by the General Assembly of the UN in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. 160 Put down in the International Treaty on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on December 19, 1966 and ratified in the “Social Pact” in 1976. 161 FT, December 22, 2003. 162 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): World Investment Report 2003 - FDI Policies for Development: National and International Prespectives, New York/Geneva 2003. 163 Ibid.
companies in the Caribbean tax havens. 164 ” The positioning of European corporations in the Latin American domestic markets by means of direct investment also has to be seen in the context of geostrategical economic competition with the U.S.A. And this competition in the course of 2003 has significantly approached the barrier of tariff –wars, which is not only being led in a disguised way anymore: The falling value of the US-dollar combined with the simultaneous rise of the Euro deteriorates the foreign trade position of Europe insofar as European exports become more expensive and US-American exports become cheaper. As the Euro continued to rise throughout 2003, four crucial events occurred in terms of foreign trade: • First of all the WTO, within the framework of the long-lasting dispute between the EU and the U.S.A. on the U.S. practice to indirectly subsidize the exports of US-companies by means of so-called “Foreign Sales Companies” (FSC), granted the EU the right to place trade related sanctions like import tariffs on US-American commodities for up to four billion US-dollars, which constitutes the highest ever trade –sanction. 165 The products affected by this measure do not have to be equivalent products. The EU, in the framework of cross-retaliation, can also place tariffs on other products. 166 The EU initially did not make use of the sanctions, allegedly not wanting to damage the multilateral negotiation process within the WTO, until • Secondly, the fifth ministerial conference of the WTO in Cancún, México, “failed” in September of 2003 and 164 Own translation of the following original text: “Es fällt auf, dass nach Angaben der Zentralbanken und Fachministerien Lateinamerikas ein Fünftel der ausländischen Direktinvestitionen aus anderen Ländern, d.h. hauptsächlich aus Steueroasen, kam. Die Steueroasen scheinen aber lediglich Durchgangsstationen für die Investitionen der Unternehmen der Industrieländer zu sein. Denn die Statistiken der Industrieländer nennen ähnlich hohe Beträge für die Direktinvestitionen ihrer Unternehmen in den Steueroasen der Karibik.” Taken from: Rösler, Peter: Auslandsinvestitionen in Lateinamerika, Ibero-Amerika verein, July 30, 2003. 165 http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/respectrules/dispute/pr051103_de.htm. 166 “Cross retaliation” in this context is a circumstance, which has a side-effect for the “old Europe” governments which is not undesired: The creation of brawl and displeasure between the different US- American export sectors, when, e.g., citrus farmers have income losses due to the punitive tariffs imposed on their product in Europe because other U.S. export firms infringe the WTO norms through the preferential tax treatment granted by the U.S. government – and the citrus farmers lastly have to pay for this – a circumstance which is not negligible in the 2004 U.S. election year: “Nach Angaben aus EU-Kreisen wurden Warengruppen ausgewählt, die den “maximalen politischen Effekt haben”. Orangensaft kam beispielsweise deshalb auf die Liste, weil davon US-Staaten wie Florida direkt betroffen sind, in denen die Präsidentenwahl entschieden wird.” Carsten Matthäus: Bushs riskantes Spiel mit Stahl und Büstenhaltern, in: Spiegel Online, http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,275552,00.html. Own translation: “According to EU-information groups of goods were chosen, which have the “maximum political effect.” Orange juice, e.g., was included in the list, because states like Florida, which are crucial for the outcome of presidential elections, are directly affected.” 65
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Christian Russau Enforcement of int
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Preface Since the end of 1999 the C
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If the “Interregional Association
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8 Chapter 5: The enforcement of int
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10 1.1 Negotiations of the “Inter
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12 A similar agreement of the so-ca
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114 The agreement on government pro
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116 5.2 The case of Chile: Foreign
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118 which was believed to be dead,
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120 c) The still pending Doha “De
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122 gesamtamerikanischen Freihandel
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124 · http://europa.eu.int/comm/co
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126 · http://www.citizen.org/ · h
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128 · http://www.rebrip.org.br ·
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130 um den Markt der wiederentdeckt
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134 DIHK Deutscher Industrie- und H
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136 Lomé Lomé-Agreement between E
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