LONDON MEP Jean Lambert joined demonstrators demanding public services remain in public control on Friday (June 28).
Mrs Lambert, Green MEP for London, took part in the Greens Against Globalisation (GAG) picket of the Department of Trade and Industry, demanding an immediate end to negotiations on the World Trade Organisation's GATS treaty on trade in services.
"The UK government is pushing the EU to sign up to an agreement which will make it impossible to regulate for social or environmental reasons and will force local councils to compete with big business," she said.
"Today we spoke to over 3,000 people, many of whom were resolutely opposed to GATS - this included DTI staff and even the police, whose own jobs are likely to be affected by the treaty."
The protest was part of an international week of action against the GATS that also included demonstrations in Brussels and Geneva to mark an important point in the GATS negotiations, the deadline for the receipt of requests for GATS liberalisation on 30 June.
London's Green MEP delivered a letter for Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of
State for Trade and Industry, calling for a moratorium on GATS negotiations
and a legally binding amendment to GATS enshrining governments' right to regulate.
It also calls for greater transparency and an end to the close co-operation
between the DTI, the European Commission and business interests in preparing
the EU's negotiating strategy.
ENDS
For more information contact Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280 or 0776 997 0691
Notes for editors
1. The GATS initially came into being with the birth of the WTO in 1995.
2. The current renegotiation of GATS was begun in February 2000 but has been
incorporated in the new round of trade talks initiated at the WTO meeting in
Doha in November 2001 which are due to finish in 2005.
3. The current talks are aimed at increasing the scope of GATS, both in the
economic sectors covered by the most restrictive of the GATS rules, and the
scope of the GATS rules.
4. Copies of GAG's letter to the DTI and head and shoulders pix of Jean Lambert
are available from Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280.