Secret leaked documents have revealed European demands in the WTO negotiations that have been quietly underway in Geneva since 2000. These documents provide a harsh wake-up call to the world about what is really at stake in these global "commercial" negotiations.
When most people think about trade, they conjure up images of ships ferrying steel beams and sacks of coffee between nations and of agreements about cutting tariffs and quotas on trade in goods. In reality however, today's "trade agreements," such as the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO), have little to do with trade. Instead, they focus on granting foreign companies new rights and privileges within the boundaries of other countries. They attempt to constrain federal, state and local regulatory policies, and to commodify public services and common resources -- such as water -- into new tradable units for profit.

The leaked documents reveal negotiations that will expand the scope of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS,) one of the 21 pacts enforced by the WTO. The "GATS-2000" talks are promoted by the United States and European nations on behalf of multinational service sector conglomerates. Up for grabs at the negotiating table is worldwide privatization and deregulation of public energy and water utilities, postal services, higher education and state alcohol distribution controls; a new right for foreign firms to obtain U.S. Small Business Administration loans; elimination of a list of specific U.S. state laws about land use, professional licensing and consumer protections; and extreme deregulation of private-sector service industries such as insurance, banking, mutual funds and securities.

The national consumer group Public Citizen joined the Polaris Institute of Canada and civil society groups around the globe in a coordinated release of these documents February 25. Europe's demands of the United States and 108 other WTO signatories provide "smoking gun" evidence, after months of speculation and concern, about how these secretive WTO negotiations threaten essential public services upon which people worldwide rely daily.


http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7360

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