'Of particular concern is that the deliberations of the Article 133 Committee are not made public.'

international | eu | opinion/analysis Tuesday February 17, 2004 02:53 by Democracy and Public Services in Europe - (DAPSE) dapse at eircom dot net c/o IPSC, p/o Box 9124, Dublin 1

.......article 133 . . . . . . . .

A Chara,
 
As you may be aware, the Article 133 Committee of the European Union will meet in Dublin on February 20. This Committee advises and makes proposals to the European Commission on the negotiation of international trade agreements. Of major concern is that the activities and proposals of this Committee are kept secret from citizens and elected representatives. We are therefore asking for your support and signature for the statement below, which will be publicly presented to the Irish government – in its role as holder of the EU Presidency – in the week prior to the meeting of the Article 133 Committee.
 
“We, as concerned citizens and elected public representatives, are disturbed that matters of public interest – including the EU and Irish government’s proposals on the opening of international trade in public services like health and education, and on trade in goods and services with developing countries – are being discussed in secret at the EU Article 133 Committee meeting in Dublin on Feb 20. In the spirit of openness, transparency and accountability, we request the right to observe at this Article 133 Committee meeting; and to have access to documents being presented by the Irish government to the meeting.”
 
Why are we asking for your support?
 
The activities of the Article 133 Committee include proposals for trade agreements with international organisations like the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), trade blocs like the South American MERCOSUR group, or individual countries like the USA. The agreements are highly important inasmuch as they effect the functioning of the economies of the countries concerned, and in particular the way public services are delivered.
 
Development NGOs in Ireland, for example, are very concerned at the efforts of the EU and the US to get the governments of undeveloped and developing countries to allow European and US service industries to operate freely in their countries – with the risk that indigenous providers will be undermined – while the EU retains barriers to imports of commodities from these countries. It was in relation to EU pressure that developing countries should further open up their economies to foreign trade and investment that the WTO talks in Cancun broke down last year.
 
And people in Europe who are of the opinion that essential public services like health, education, water and public transport should remain under the control of national governments are concerned that these services will be opened up to international trade – where the commercial interests of the service industries would take precedence over the requirement that these services should meet social needs.
 
Of particular concern is that the deliberations of the Article 133 Committee are not made public. Nor are proposals to the Article 133 Committee by the governments of the Member States made public. After the second referendum on the Nice Treaty, for example, 32 Freedom of Information requests were made in relation to the Article 133 Committee and the activities of the Irish representatives on it: 31 of these requests were refused.
 
The proposals of the Article 133 Committee go to the European Commission, which is empowered by the Council of Ministers to negotiate trade agreements on behalf of all the Member States of the EU. But the citizens and elected representatives of the Member States do not get to see what has been negotiated on their behalf until after the deals have been concluded – either in the WTO, the GATS, or with individual countries. So we are not told in advance what our government’s proposals are – either in relation to those aspects of our public services that might be offered for trade to the international service industries, or in relation to what our government is proposing undeveloped countries should do.
 
Whatever one’s opinion on the content of the Irish government’s or the EU’s proposals may be, the secrecy of the process undermines accountability and democracy: how do we know what our government or the European Commission is proposing; and how do we know they are doing what they say they will do?
 
International trade negotiations affect all aspects of our lives, and are therefore a matter of public interest. We think they should be open to scrutiny by citizens and public representatives alike. If the Tribunals are open, so should the trade talks. To that end we are asking for your support for the statement above.
 
We will contact you soon to discuss this further.
 
Yours, (for DAPSE)
 
Miriam Murphy. 087 754 5568               Brendan Young. 085 713 1903
 
Signatories to the statement above include:
 
Michael D Higgins TD      Emmet Stagg TD
 
Trevor Sargent TD       John Gormley TD      Eamon Ryan TD       Dan Boyle TD        Ciaran Cuffe TD       Paul Gogarty TD
 
Caoimhghín O’Caolain TD             Seán Crowe TD         Arthur Morgan TD         Martin Ferris TD             Aengus O’Snodaig TD
 
Finian McGrath TD            Tony Gregory TD               Séamus Healy TD               Joe Higgins TD             
 
Patricia McKenna MEP    Nuala Ahern MEP
 
The following Sinn Féin Euro candidates have also signed the above statement: Mary Lou McDonald, Bairbre DeBruin MLA, David Cullinane, John Dwyer, Pearse Doherty.