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SAFEGUARD OF PUBLIC SERVICES SET AS RED LINE IN EU TRADE AGREEMENTS

Date

03 Feb 2016

Sections

Social Europe & Jobs
Sustainable Dev.
Trade & Society

Members  of  the  European  Parliament  echo  calls  from  civil  society,  public  service providers and workers to fully exclude public services from trade agreements.

 
Today’s [3 February] adoption of a European Parliament resolution calling for the full exclusion of public services in the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and future trade deals has been welcomed by Social Platform, the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises  providing Public  Services  (CEEP), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU). Public services are vital for social cohesion, sustainable growth and job creation. The vote builds upon the Parliament’s adoption last July of a resolution calling on the European Commission to fully exclude current and future public services from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States, regardless of how they are provided or  funded. The resolution on TiSA, authored by Member of the European Parliament Viviane Reding, goes further by  requesting the European Commission to introduce a “gold standard” clause to exclude public services from the scope of trade agreements irrespective of how they are supplied. The “gold standard” clause would considerably strengthen the protection of quality, accessible and affordable public services in EU trade agreements. The European Commission should now commit to changing its approach to public services not only in TiSA, but also in TTIP and future trade agreements.
 
ENDS
 
Note to Editors
Social  Platform  is  the  largest  European  civil  society  alliance  fighting  for  social  justice  and participatory democracy in Europe.
 
The European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services (CEEP) gathers public and  private  providers  of  services  of  general interest  from  across  Europe, representing  more  than 26% of EU GDP and employing 30% of the EU workforce.
 
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) comprises 90 national trade union confederations in 39 countries, plus ten European trade union federations.
 
The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) is the largest federation of the European Trade Union Confederation and comprises eight million public service workers from over 265 trade unions.
 
Press enquiries
Helen Joseph (Social Platform)
+32 (0) 489 77 26 94
 
Maxime Staelens (CEEP)
+32 (0) 2 229 21 40
 
Ruby Waterworth (EPSU)
+32 (0) 2 250 10 89
 
Stéphanie Wouters (ETUC)
+32 (0) 494 164 026