GUE/NGL MEP Helmuth Markov: EU should support the efforts of Ecuador to build a fairer international trade system

– deutsche Übersetzung folgt –

Markov congratulates the Government of Ecuador for its courageous decision, announced on 12th December, to refuse to pay the interests on the illicit part of its external debt, as a result of the international debt audit that it commissioned.
This represents an important victory for the poor, for development and for justice. It is another defeat for those who are using the current international financial system for speculation, easy and illicit gain, and exploitation, at the expense of the poorest and the whole stability of economy. The strong reform of the financial system demanded unanimously worldwide must include the reform of international financial institutions, as well as the abolition of the illicit external debt of all countries.
MEP Markov considers that the European Commission and the Member States should act consistently with the development goals of the EU, should strongly support this initiative by Ecuador in all the financial bodies in which they are represented, and should encourage the carrying out of similar audits in other countries whose external debt is suspected to be illicit..
Markov considers that the EU should support the efforts of Ecuador and other countries in the region to build a more fair international financial system, with new instruments like the Bank of the South, instead of exerting pressure for the negotiation of Association Agreements focusing nearly exclusively on even greater liberalisation and access to the markets and natural resources for its corporations.