| Local and Regional Opposition to GATS and Similar Trade Rules
It appears that, for the moment, among the strongest movements opposing the GATS, and other regulatory trade rules, are those that are spreading at the local and regional level.
GATS is the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
One institution that has echoed rising local activism is the Assembly of European Regions (AER). Created in 1985, it currently brings together 250 member regions from 30 countries and is committed to institutionalising the participation of regions in European politics. The unanimously adopted declaration of the AER's 2004 annual assembly, held in November, included, as its first point, the Assembly's resolve to:
'Ask that international trade liberalisation be organised in a balanced way, through the democratic process, with the participation of all concerned institutions, including the regions, and stakeholders. Account should be taken of the established values and standards of the European Union, such as human rights, in particular workers' and children's rights, and the social and environmental standards, as the Assembly of European Regions does not share the principle of total submission to the global logic of unregulated competition and free trade.'
The AER's declaration arises from its longstanding concern about the GATS, and comes amid a surge in citizens' activities at the local level.
In France, some 600 local communities, comprising 28 million people, have declared themselves GATS-free zones. In Switzerland, the city of Geneva, where the WTO has its head office, declared itself a GATS-free zone by a resolution accepted by its Administrative Council in June 2003. In Lausanne, another Swiss city, the communal council has passed a motion to that end, but a final decision is pending. GATS-related questions have been submitted in the parliaments of 15 Swiss cantons and 20 communes.
At a local meeting organised by Attac in Lausanne in November, the co-ordinator of Attac's anti-GATS campaign in France recalled that the central problem of the GATS is that it confiscates democracy. Many local councillors, also those on the Right, are ready to understand how the GATS can deprive them of their capacity to fulfil their tasks as elected representatives of the people.
In the USA, meanwhile, States are reportedly using their powers to opt out of the government procurement rules set down in trade agreements. That decision is usually made by the State's governor, without legislative input. 'With each new pact, from Chile to Australia to CAFTA, fewer States have agreed to be bound to those rules.' President Bush may be relieved that Texas is one State that has agreed to all of them, including the procurement rules of the WTO.
One reason more and more local and regional councils are taking action is that the GATS has implications for many of the services that they provide themselves (education, health, housing, etc) or that are important for the quality of life on their territories, including national transport and postal services.
The AER's November declaration insists that the responsibilities of the regional level of government 'must be maintained', in particular in the areas of economic development, education and training, housing, transport, health, care for the elderly and socially-excluded, and the protection of the environment.
Moreover, local representatives are also realising that national parliaments, even those that do have a right to deliberate and vote on trade agreements, have much reduced powers in trade matters.
At the end of a round of comprehensive trade negotiations, like those that are currently taking place within the WTO, national parliaments are confronted by a massive and complex trade agreement reflecting a delicate bargain across many sectors. MPs are given the choice of either accepting or rejecting the whole package, and there are enormous pressures on them not to be responsible for the failure of many years of international negotiations. Business naturally seeks to benefit from this 'worldwide democracy hold-up' by injecting into the WTO negotiations as many of their liberalisation proposals as possible.
The relative impotence of national parliaments, particularly at the later stages of trade negotiations, serves to highlight the importance of early democratic action at the local level. Widespread local refusal of trade-imposed re-regulation will put direct pressure on national governments, and support those national legislators who want to strengthen democracy and parliamentary powers in the field of trade negotiations.
Sources: The Assembly of European Regions (AER); Annual General Assembly; Vienna, 25-26 November 2004: 'Final Declaration - Reinforcing the scope for action by the regions'. AER website: www.are-regions-europe.org ; 'Les zones hors AGCS pourraient bientôt conquérir la Suisse', Le Courrier, 20 November 2004. www.lecourrier.ch ; 'U.S. and free trade proposals', FedEx Trade News, 1 December 2004. http://www.customsdoc.com/TNR_News.asp .
Edward Sussex,
edward.sussex@bluewin.ch
3 December 2004
|
