Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-10-Speech-1-076"
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"en.20030310.4.1-076"2
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"Madam President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, concern is growing in every quarter at the wave of opening up and privatisation of services that the negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade and Services might unleash, however much the Commissioner insists that this will not happen. The right of EU and third-country citizens, including those of developing countries, of access to essential goods and services including water, education, health, culture, energy, transport and telecommunications, is in danger of being undermined. We are all familiar with disastrous examples of the privatisation of services in many countries, including transport in the United Kingdom, electricity in the United States and in Portugal, and water distribution and healthcare services in many developing countries.
We are therefore concerned to learn of the Commission’s proposals, which overlook the importance of public services in areas such as energy, transport, postal services and telecommunications, in terms of social cohesion, the public’s well-being and social inclusion. The proposals also fail to take due account of the way in which social movements have been mobilised on a major scale to protect high-quality public services. A moratorium must therefore be declared on the liberalisation of services and the Commission must draw up a detailed report on the foreseeable economic, social and environmental consequences of the policies of liberalisation emanating from the World Trade Organization, both in the European Union and in the developing countries. The essential role of public services in every country’s development and social cohesion must also be respected, with no proposals put forward that provide for further liberalisations in third countries or for European Union bids in the field of public services. The Commission must also call for cultural diversity not only to be preserved, but also promoted, as has already been stressed here on more than one occasion. Furthermore, deepening democracy, exerting greater control over the multinationals and protecting the development of the least developed countries and regions and the citizens’ interests requires a democratic debate, requires national parliaments and the European Parliament to be consulted and the rule of unanimity to be upheld in negotiations in all of these areas. The role of the World Trade Organization must also be reduced and the United Nations General Assembly must be given a more active role in this field."@en1
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