Entries from SAIS Next Europe tagged with 'Colombia'
EU Takes Realist Tone With Colombia
During Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's recent visit to Berlin, two agenda items garnered attention: closer economic ties with Europe and help fighting the drug trade.
Europe is charging ahead on the former. Negotiations over a free trade agreement (FTA) began in mid-February, leaving the EU poised to gain where the United States lost last year. After two years of negotiations and substantial expenditures of political capital by both the Bush administration and President Uribe, Congress refused to vote on the U.S.-Colombia (FTA) over concerns about human rights and labor standards--even after the FTA was revised to include enforceable labor provisions. (The bill ultimately fell victim to an underlying difference in perspective: The Bush administration saw the FTA as a tool for strengthening national security through economic development that could undercut drug activity in Colombia, but the Democrats in control of Congress saw it as a reward that Colombia did not deserve).
Recent Posts
- Europe Must Help Obama Close Guantanamo
- Republicans Need Direction? Check Out Germany
- Exposing NATO's Weaknesses in Afghanistan
- Resetting Russian Relations
- Nabucco Pipeline Gets the Green Light
- Bulgaria's 'Batman' Prime Minister
- Soccer's Role in Germany's Future
- Albania's Outlook Unclear After Elections
- Education, Our Non-Priority
- Europe Sleeps As Power Passes It By
Recent Comments
Chaotician on EU Takes Realist Tone With Colombia: Clearly, t
rodven on EU Takes Realist Tone With Colombia: I think Pr
PeteGuither on EU Takes Realist Tone With Colombia: President