Press Releases 2015

10 November 2015 (Brussels) – New report shows how increasing market power and Unfair Trading Practices of European supermarkets affect banana small farmers and plantation workers.

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 24 September 2015 (Brussels) – Today, in more than 70 cities around the world, including Brussels, tens of thousands of activists backed by leaders such as Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzaicalled on governments to commit to the new Global Goals for Sustainable Development and tackle the most urgent issues of our time – poverty, inequality and climate change.

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24 April 2015 (Brussels) – The Fair Trade Advocacy Office is supporting Fashion Revolution Day on this important world-wide call for action to provoke a systemic change in the textile supply chain.

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2 December 2015 (Brussels) – Fashion Revolution and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office joined forces on the 1st December to raise awareness amongst EU decision makers of the lack of transparency and imbalances of power in fashion and textile supply chains, from farmer to consumer.

In the context of the European Year for Development, Fashion Revolution and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office organised a debate in Brussels on Tuesday evening, hosted by Arne Lietz, Member of the European Parliament. Participants at the conference heard the testimonial of Youssouf Djimé Sidibe from the Association of African Cotton Producers, who reported on the situation faced by small cotton farmers. Sergi Corbalán, on behalf of the Fair Trade movement, stated: “Cotton farmers are the often-forgotten actors in the fashion and textile supply chains. We call on the EU to put in place an action plan to ensure fair and transparent fashion and supply chains, from farmer to consumer”. read more

14 October 2015 (Brussels) – The European Commission has published today the new EU Trade and Investment Strategy. The EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has unveiled a series of new initiatives to support uptake of Fair Trade at a Fair Trade breakfast that has taken place earlier in the day at the European Parliament. The Fair Trade movement warmly welcomes the new EC pro-active approach on Fair Trade and looks forward to working together with the European Union towards making all trade fair.

The EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström launched today the new EU Trade and Investment Strategy “Trade for all: Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy” and stated that the new EU trade agenda will “not only project out interests but also our values”. read more

4 June 2015 (Brussels) – The Committee of the Regions plenary adopted today an opinion on Fair Trade. This EU advisory body representing local and regional authorities calls again on the European Commission to adopt a more ambitious approach to this topic

In the own-initiative opinion “local and regional support for Fair Trade in Europe”, its author Barbara Duden, Vice-President of the Free and Hanseatic Parliament of the City of Hamburg, expresses the need for a fully-fledged EU Fair Trade Strategy that mainstreams this concept across various EU policy areas: trade, development and sustainable consumption and production. The Committee of the Regions had already called for such a Strategy in an opinion dating from 2010, with no concrete follow-up by the EU. read more

28 January 2015 (Brussels) – The European office of the city of Gothenburg organized on the 27 of January an event about the local and regional support to Fair Trade and its links with the EU trade agenda.

Cecilia Malmström was invited to present the “Fair Trade agenda” of the new Commission during her mandate as Trade Commissioner. Malmström acknowledged that Fair Trade is increasingly popular in the European Union and that the EU supports Fair Trade because “it delivers actual results”.  Furthermore, she sees the need for the EU to “look beyond a narrow definition of trade policy to address issues of trade fairness”. read more