Fair Trade Manifesto receives widespread support

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 Fair Trade Manifesto, which lays down the main five demands to the European Union for the 2014-2019 term.

The manifesto has been signed by key candidates to the European Parliament elections from various European political families in the Parliament, including the European People’s Party, the Party of European Socialists, the European Green Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the Party of the European Left. Ten of these candidates, across twenty-two EU countries and parties, seized the opportunity to explain why they support fair trade in short videos available online. The support to fair trade among candidates to the European elections was the highest in Italy, France and the Czech Republic. The list of candidates per country can be seen on an interactive map on FTAO website.The Fair Trade movement is composed of 2.5 million producers and workers from 70 countries, 24 labelling initiatives, over 500 specialized 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 22 to 25 May, the fair trade movement has engaged with European Commission Presidency and candidates running for the European elections in more than 23 member states, asking them to endorse the five demands in the fair trade manifesto and making the results available on the campaign website.