Arena, P O Box 2450,
Christchurch
Tel (03) 366 2803: Fax: (03)
366 8035
20 April 2002
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In the most
significant leak since the Multilateral Agreement on Investment was exposed to
public scrutiny in 1997 and eventually sunk, drafts of the European Union's
'requests' of other countries in the WTO services negotiations have just been
posted on a European website (www.gatswatch.org).
The document makes across the board demands that 29 countries open up their
postal services, water supplies, finance and banking, electricity
generation and supply and
telecommunications services to European transnational companies.
The EU also wants all these countries to lower or abandon their vetting of
foreign investments in all services sectors. Coming at a time of mounting
protests against privatisations of water, electricity, prisons, health
services, education and more, the documents have provoked outrage throughout
the world.
The EU's specific "requests" of
New Zealand (see www.arena.org.nz/gatseu1.pdf)
include:- removing the requirement for Overseas Investment Commission approval
of foreign investments in services,
including purchase of rural land;
- removing the right to prefer local purchasers in any future
privatisations, such as NZ Post, TVNZ, Kiwibank or universities;
-
not
giving preference to New Zealanders engaged in research and development work in
natural sciences, social sciences and humanities and interdisciplinary areas,
including rights to government subsidies;
-
no
limits on security operators, such as private prison companies, in establishing
their businesses, buying
land or having full control of such activities;
-
committing
postal and courier services to full, private international competition and
ownership
-
removing
the limit on any single overseas company owning more than 49.9% of Telecom
- no restrictions on foreign ownership or access to contracts
for water collection, purification or distribution, waste water, refuse
disposal, sanitation
- no preference for local owners or providers of maritime
transport and port services, rail transport maintenance, air transport sales
and marketing and ground handling.
This comes on top of the US hit list of services they want opened to free trade
rules that was released last week. US targets include the new 'light-handed'
telecommunications regulations and the current Government's policy to impose
local content broadcast quotas, already on hold as a result of commitments the
National government made under GATS in 1994.
"Trade Minister Jim Sutton and the Government only ever talk about the
holy grail of free trade in agriculture. It's time they started to explain to
people what the implications of these services agreements are for the rights of
New Zealanders to control what happens in our country'," said Professor
Kelsey.
The Europeans' demands are the latest stage in controversial negotiations to
expand the existing coverage of free trade rules to more key services and
extend those rules. Known as the General Agreement on Trade in Services
or GATS, these rules limit the right of central and local governments to
protect their domestic services and put the interests of foreign investors
ahead of people's right to affordable, quality public services.
The Doha ministerial meeting of the WTO last November ignored concerns from the
UN subcommission on Human Rights about the implications of GATS for human
rights, and demands from poorer countries to assess the impacts of the
agreement so far, when it set June this year as the deadline for countries to
table their demands of other countries.
"This leak confirms what ARENA and many international critics have
claimed: that the GATS is a Trojan Horse for the takeover of core public and
essential services by transnational companies aligned with the EU and US",
said Professor Jane Kelsey on behalf of the Action, Research and Education
Network of Aotearoa (ARENA). "Once commitments are made, governments can
only change their minds at a price which almost none can afford".
"The backlash we are already seeing from these documents is another nail
in the coffin for the WTO's attempt to dictate how governments meet their
people's needs' said Professor Kelsey.
For comment or more information contact:
Jane Kelsey (021) 726 5055
Bill Rosenberg (03) 332 8525
Aziz Choudry (03) 348 4763 or
the Arena office (03) 366 2803