Aid to poor countries should be tailored more towards benefiting European firms, a top-level Brussels official has recommended. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51786

In a letter to EU governments ahead of a Jun. 17-18 meeting of their leaders, Piebalgs argues that the objectives of aid should be in line with those contained in the recently approved Europe 2020 initiative, which lists the Union's key areas of focus for the coming decade. Although that initiative primarily relates to the economy within Europe, it also commits the Union to removing obstacles that large companies face in doing business abroad or in gaining access to the natural resources of foreign countries.

comment-also see...the Permanent Peoples Tribunal, which condemned the European Union and European Financial Institutions for supporting criminal activities of European transnational corporations in Latin America http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/european-union-complicit-in-human-right-violations-in-latin-america   Press Release: Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, Putting European corporations on trial http://www.tni.org/article/press-release-permanent-peoples-tribunal-putting-european-corporations-trial