Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-10-Speech-1-071"
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"en.20030310.4.1-071"2
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"Mr President, we feel that this debate on the opening of WTO negotiations to liberalise trade in services is extremely patchy. Not all the cards are on the table and the initial contacts have, for the most part
not been transparent. The Commission prides itself on a negotiating mandate dating from 1999, before Seattle, which is now completely obsolete. The national parliaments have not debated the matter transparently and the European Parliament is being called upon to endorse everything on the basis of a brief statement from the Commission.
We are not against all liberalisation in principle, but it must at all times be controlled by the peoples concerned. The people must never be in a position where their hands are tied. If we follow the Commission in this matter, we will find ourselves caught up in ill-defined negotiations which could have a serious effect on the people’s control over their public services and all the rules safeguarding their societies.
Of course, the Commission assures us that no liberalisation offer will be made by the Union in the fields of health or education or the audiovisual sector and that it will negotiate to preserve cultural diversity, but these declarations are not enough for us. Why these fields and not others? We have too much experience not to be familiar with the wheels within wheels and traps hidden in this kind of agreement, which only come to light after the event, when we have already signed on the dotted line.
Commissioner, on Thursday, in this hemicycle, we are going to debate the closure of major firms due to relocation and the resulting human tragedies. If we want to avoid further human tragedies in the future, we must address problems earlier on in the process. We must start by refraining now from signing agreements such as the GATS agreement which would tie our hands in the future. That is why we call for these negotiations to be postponed until a genuinely public, democratic debate has taken place, until we have clearly assessed all the implications of GATS."@en1
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