[A-List] EU imperialism: GATS negotiations

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

EU's secret plans hold poor countries to ransom

Larry Elliott and Charlotte Denny
Tuesday February 25, 2003
The Guardian

The European Union has drawn up secret plans aimed at prising open service
sector markets in the world's poorest countries in return for cutting its
lavish farm subsidies, it was revealed last night.

The demands under the World Trade Organisation's service sector talks target
109 countries, including the 50 least developed, and would allow European
firms to charge for providing water to some of the 1.2bn people living on
less than a dollar a day.

Details of the blueprint leaked to the Guardian yesterday showed that the EU
has demanded a high price for allowing developing countries access to its
highly protected farm markets. Brussels is determined to win large gains for
its highly competitive banking, telecoms and business service firms in the
new round of global trade talks launched 14 months ago.

Brussels is under intense pressure to axe export subsidies which depress
global food prices and impoverish farmers in the developing world. Reform of
the common agricultural policy is the top demand from the EU's trading
partners.

"The EU is explicitly linking these requests to agriculture and saying we
have to get something for our service sector companies, before we give up
our farm subsidies," said Barry Coates, head of the world development
movement. "It reveals why they keep these demands secret - their agenda
isn't pro-development. This is what they regard as their goodies from the
new trade round."

Development campaigners say that poor countries would have their hands tied
if they agreed to the EU's requests and be unable to respond in the way
Labour did in the UK when it effectively renationalised a failing Railtrack.
"These commitments are effectively irreversible, if privatisations get
botched there is no way out," said Mr Coates. "By making such commitments,
developing countries would be affecting generations to come."

Campaigners believe that faced with the batteries of industry lobbyists the
EU is wielding to make its case, countries could end up signing deals they
will later regret.

Among its demands, the EU is demanding that Bolivia let in more foreign
water companies despite outrage after a multinational company increased
water prices by 200% in the country's third largest city.

The EU is also targeting Panama where water privatisation plans were
scrapped in 1998 after strikes and demonstrations, and Trinidad where UK
company Severn Trent lost the contract for managing the water authority four
years ago.