The Federal House on Tuesday 17 June was the setting for the launch of the Parliamentary Front to Monitor the Negotiations on the FTAA and Defend Sovereignty. The event, drawing together dozens of representatives, advisors, political parties and entities from the social movement, was attended by the economists Alberto Arroyo, of Mexico, specialist in international agreement, and Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr, of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. Opening the event, Alberto Arroyo summarized the damaging consequences that nine years of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have had in Mexico, highlighting the fact that the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is being drawn up along the same terms as the agreement with Mexico. He pointed out that neither the NAFTA nor the FTAA are simply business agreements. The most disturbing and harmful factors are in the chapters on competition, which define the role of national states. "Large corporations have only rights, not obligations". In addition, he recalled that the United States is not negotiating the FTAA as a whole, but only the details. For example, those aspects that would guarantee total autonomy and power to large corporations are not open to discussion. Arroyo also revealed that there has been no economic growth in Mexico since the implementation of the NAFTA. On the contrary, the rate of exports and unemployment has increased and labor relations of those individuals who have employment have been affected. The most basic and fundamental rights have been taken from the lives of the workers. Finally, Alberto Arroyo commented on the fact that the terms of NAFTA, as well as the FTAA, favor the US companies and if there were to be any negotiation it must begin on a clean slate. For economist Paulo Nogueira Batista, the FTAA symbolizes a "NAFTA-plus" situation, that is to say, the plus represents an altogether overriding preference towards the United States' government. He stated that already for some time now the question that should have dominated the discussions surrounding the FTAA should have been whether Brazil is interested in participating in an area of free trade with economies that are significantly more advance than our own. He underlined the fact that the Brazilian economic system is hostile to outside competition. It means having equal conditions between the companies that operate in unequal systematic environments. From a structural perspective, Brazil's participation in the FTAA cannot be defended. Nogueira also questioned why, if commercial integration is this fundamental, there is no free trade between the United States and the European Union or the United States and Japan? He reinforced the fact that the FTAA raises many more issues than those involved in trade sanctions (services, intellectual property, infrastructure, investment, etc.); the FTAA extends those restrictions placed by the WTO. He concluded by saying that if Brazil agrees to the FTAA, the national development project will be cease to exist. It will simply become a cliché in electoral discourse. Father Alfredo Gonçalvez, who was at the table representing the National Bishop's Conference of Brazil (CNBB), welcomed the representatives' initiative to launch the Parliamentary Front. He stressed that the CNBB, together with the National Council of Christian Churches (CONIC), represented at the launch by minister Revino, is deeply concerned about the one-sided nature of the game that is being played. There are economically unequal nations participating under the same conditions. Conditions which, without doubt, favor the strongest. "The FTAA strengthens legislation which is above all that of Nation States", says Father Gonçalvez. Senator Eduardo Suplicy, present at the meeting, signaled that the United States should ensure that the world's wealth can be distributed to the people, from Alaska to Patagonia. Luiz Bassegio, of the Continental Secretary of the Cry of the Excluded, highlighted that is it of the utmost importance that the representatives come together in defense of the sovereignty of Brazil: however, he also stressed that the mobilization of social movements is of fundamental importance in order to put an end to the FTAA. In saying this, he reinforced the need to support the action agendas of the campaigns against the FTAA, on a national level and throughout the hemisphere. Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh, one of the organizers of the Front, considered it fundamental that strength be amassed in parliament and that progress be made with determination and without sectarianism. In Greenhalgh's opinion, we should pride ourselves in this patriotic act of launching the Front. He also said that parliament cannot endorse the terms of the Executive. Various proposals for concrete actions were made during the launch of the Front, which will reunite fortnightly in order to guarantee staying abreast of the negotiations. The content of the meetings will be published by the House and distributed to the public. (Translation by ALAI)