(30 October 2013) On 18 October European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that they had reached a political agreement on the key elements of a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). However no details of the agreement have yet been published. EPSU has had serious reservations about the scope and the process of the trade negotiations, including the lack of transparency. Trade agreements have a wide and far reaching effect on many aspects of government rights, public rights, public services, and the public has the right to full disclosure along with the right to informed input into any such negotiations.
Both EU and Canadian citizens need to see broad exclusions of public services from CETA and the maintenance of sufficient policy space to define and regulate public services in the future(*). Any weakening of the current EU position would represent a step backwards and it would further reduce policy space for public authorities, and especially local authorities, to provide and regulate public services in the general interest(**). It would also counter assurances given by DG Trade Commissioner De Gucht that … “there is thus no Commission initiative to open up more public services to trade liberalisation.” (***)
While details are all too few, EPSU has heard that the agreement includes controversial ‘investor-to- state dispute settlement (ISDS) which gives companies or investors special rights to challenge democratic decision-making. ISDS has created much uncertainty and resulted in challenges to laws and regulations that protect the public. Many governments are stepping back from concluding ISDS so it would be extremely alarming if the EU would be entrenching them in CETA. The Commission should publish the text now so the European Parliament, national parliaments and civil society in both EU and Canada can judge what has been concluded.
For more information :
- (*) These arguments are developed in a study “Public services in bilateral free trade agreements of the EU” (November 2011) by Professor Markus Krajewski University of Erlangen-Nuernberg. The study also explores how the EU might develop in trade negotiations a more positive approach towards public services )
- (**) See also EPSU/ETUC letter of 21 November 2011
- (***) See Commissioner’s letter to EPSU
(5 July 2011)
- Joint letter to the European Parliament February 2012 regarding the EU Canada trade negotiations (CETA) from the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), and the Canadian National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and Trade Justice Network
- Critical assessment of CETA, January 2010
- ETUC-CLC joint statement
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