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Europe's trade with developing countries

MEPs recently gave the green light to a new trade deal between Europe and Caribbean countries. It is part of the "Economic Partnership Agreements" being negotiated with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, who have long had preferential access to EU markets, after the World Trade Organisation struck down existing agreements as detrimental to other developing countries. Negotiating the new accords has proved controversial. We asked some MEPs for their views and we want yours too.
Major news on June 2009 European Parliament elections

My response:

Aid is not enough, we cant afford what it would cost. What we need is European industries in underdeveloped countries. Farming without fertilizers, desalination plants, fully automated production. We pay for the land then we pay their tax over our production.

The Sahara can easily provide all the ethanol and food the world needs.

hemp

Hemp is also needed for our global omega 3 fatty acid shortage, farming creates clouds that will drop rain again. aka eco system. Hemp provides huge amounts of oxygen and cleans the air while not requiring fertilizers.

60% ethanol can be enriched with hydrogen (from solar) into an ideal fuel for all existing vehicles. Wood can be turned into gas, liquefied and transported.

It wont provide a lot of jobs, people would only stand in the way. Production needs to be fully automated and the infrastructure needs to be build in an easy to upgrade modular fashion.

If you can get your hands on some numbers you will see corn or other crops cant provide half the harvest on rich soil as hemp can on desert land. We don't need to give any aid if we keep acting like little children about this fact.

You should ask yourself, if we really don't want a solution to the climate problem, the energy problem, the food problem, the economic problem, the water problem and the fact our existing cars have been designed to run on petroleum.

You should think for a moment, not one person ever died from smoking pot but here you are willing to kill the whole planet over this petroleum propaganda. It amuses you to hear some one talk about hemp up to a point where non of you are to be taken seriously.

William Randolph Hearst, Dupont, JP Morgan and a few others successfully outlawed Hemp and attempted to outlaw alcohol, alcohol provided 90% of the fuel in those days while hemp provided in unmatched numbers of applications. All cloths, all ropes, most food, but also plastics, concrete, soap, wood, gunpowder, medicine etc etc

Here you find a context where talking about giving Aid becomes hypocritical. Europe would be full of industrial hemp if it wasn't for the flax subsidizing (short fibers) Hemp produces up to 600% more fiber than Flax.

For more than 10 years EU taxpayers paid farmers huge subsidies to grow flax. More than five times the level of support for arable crops. (Daily Telegraph 09 Jul 2002)(Daily Telegraph 24 feb 01)(Daily Telegraph 24 Feb 2009)

The EU wanted China to agree to limit export growth to 7.5% on T-shirts and flax yarn - or face imposed quotas. (BBC 10 June 2005)

In 2004, the EU imported 9,924 tons of flax yarn, worth 58m euro.(europa.eu Trade issues 17 May 2005)

From a business perspective it's not a lot of money, from an Aid perspective it would provide a lot of economic growth for developing countries without giving away a single cent I should add.

I hope the point is clear, and I hope this can be of help to you.

Thanks for your time,

-Gaby de Wilde

More infotainment:

http://knol.google.com/k/gaby-de-wilde/saving-my-europe/1yrf1mzjtxzk5/25#