Archived press release

Spivs sell off public services through the wto

13 March 2003

International development and environmental campaigners will highlight the threat posed to our public services by an international trade agreement currently being negotiated at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. The action is part of a European-wide day of protest about the controversial WTO negotiations, which could see waste services, water and planning regulations in this country and overseas placed under the control of the WTO.

Campaigners from local groups of the World Development Movement (WDM), People and Planet and Friends of the Earth will be outside the London Regional Government Office to call for a halt to UK Government support for the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

They argue that:

• GATS puts profit before people's basic needs and rights. It will lever open basic services to the free market, something that is highly controversial around the world. Recent leaks of key documents show that previous promises that the EU would not “request” opening up basic services like water in the developing world have, disturbingly, not been honoured.

• GATS undermines democracy at regional, national and international levels by being effectively irreversible, locking in future governments to its free market rules.

• Negotiations are taking place in secret with no proper public consultation or parliamentary scrutiny. While the UK Government offers reassurance that basic UK services like health and education will not be “offered”, activists will point out that GATS by nature demands progressively deeper opening up of services, so what is “safe” today may well not be safe tomorrow.

Campaigners dressed as black market “spivs”, complete with trench coats and pencil moustaches will play the role of the World Trade Organisation and the Department of Trade and Industry who are “selling off” basic services. The protest is part of a European day of action against GATS. Similar protests will take place outside UK Regional Government Offices across the country.

Friends of the Earth trade campaigner, Eve Mitchell, said:

“Our actions will show how the UK Government is backing a World Trade Organisation agreement that will threaten public services and poor people worldwide, while offering a bargain basement deal to big business. All around the world, people rely on basic services such as clean water, health, education and public transport. But for those in the poorest countries, they make the daily difference between life and death. This agreement could harm these basic services here and abroad because it is rigged in favour of multinational companies who care more about profits than people and the environment.

“This agreement is undemocratic. We elect councillors and MPs to make decisions about how local public services are provided, not groups of international lawyers and trade negotiators in Switzerland. It is time to put people before profit and call a halt to GATS!”

Following the protest representatives from WDM, People and Planet and Friends of the Earth will hand in a letter to the London Regional Government Office explaining their concerns about the implications of GATS for the provision and regulation of services at a regional and local level.

Notes

1/ Photo opportunity: 12.30pm Riverwalk House, 157-161 Millbank, London SW1P 4RR

2/ Along with other members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Britain signed up to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in 1994. Negotiations to extend the agreement restart at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva on 21 March 2001. The agreement applies to all levels of government - local, regional and national, and covers 160 service sectors. It extends the free trade principles of the WTO from trade in goods to include trade in services. GATS will have a profound effect on all governments' ability to regulate their service economy and on the potential of poor countries to receive benefits from foreign investment in their service sectors. GATS has unexplored implications for rich and poor governments' ability to provide affordable and accessible public services. The EC's website describes GATS as "first and foremost an instrument for the benefit of business."

At Westminster, 262 MPs from all the main parties have signed an Early Day Motion calling for an “independent and thorough assessment” of the impact of this important and far-reaching agreement on key services in the UK and in developing countries. On December 23rd eight UK General Secretaries, including those of Unison, TGWU, CWU and NATFHE wrote a public letter to the Guardian expressing their concern about the impact of GATS on health, education, transport, broadcasting and postal services. They called for a halt to GATS negotiations, describing them as "reckless and undemocratic".

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust