Third candidate for the European Commission Presidency announces support for the Fair Trade Manifesto

24 April 2014 (Brussels) – Another leading candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission has endorsed the Fair Trade manifesto. Meeting with the FTAO team, Jean-Claude Juncker, candidate for the European People’s Party, stated his support for the Vote for Fair Trade Manifesto, thereby joining Ska Keller and Martin Schulz, who had done so earlier this month.

Click here for higher resolution pictures of  respectively the group, S. Keller, M. Schulz and J.C. Juncker.

The Fair Trade movement launched in 2013 the Vote for Fair Trade (Vote4FT) campaign, with the financial assistance of the European Commission, with the objective to create a dialogue between EU citizens, Fair Trade producers and EU decision-makers on the policies that the EU should put in place to support Fair Trade. A key document in this campaign is the Vote4FT Manifesto, which lays down the main five demands to the European Union for the 2014-2019 term.

Jean-Claude Juncker, candidate for the European People’s Party, now joined Martin Schulz, common candidate for the Party of European Socialists and Ska Keller, co-candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission for the European Green Party, who had already endorsed the five Fair Trade movement demands earlier this month. The Manifesto has also been signed by key candidates to the European Parliament elections from various European political families in the Parliament, including the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the Party of the European Left. Ten of these candidates, across countries and parties, seized the opportunity to explain why they support Fair Trade in a short video that is available online.

Sergi Corbalán, Executive Director of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, stated “We welcome the support to the Vote for Fair Trade manifesto by three lead European Commission Presidency candidates, reflecting the growing support to Fair Trade by EU citizens. The times of free trade fundamentalism are over

. The Commission badly needs a new leadership that puts in place a European strategy for Fair Trade”.

The Fair Trade movement is composed of 2.5 million producers and workers from 70 countries, 24 labelling initiatives, over 500 specialised Fair Trade importers, 4,000 World Shops and more than 100,000 volunteers. On the run up to the European Parliament elections taking place from 20 to 25 May, the Fair Trade movement will be engaging candidates running for the European elections in more than 20 EU Member States, asking them to endorse the 5 demands in the manifesto and making the results available on the campaign website.

Contact:

Sebastien Leclef | leclef@fairtrade-advocacy.org | Tel: +32 (0)2 543 19 23

Fair Trade Advocacy Office

Village Partenaire – bureau 1 | 15 rue Fernand Bernierstraat | 1060 Brussels – Belgium

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Fair Trade Advocacy Office and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.