FRIENDS OF THE EARTH MEDIA Release
Brussels, London -Monday July 11, 2003
WTO COMPLAINT GOES TO EU OMBUDSMAN
Friends of the Earth today July 14 lodged
a formal complaint with the European
Ombudsman objecting to the European
Commission's repeated refusal to release
documents relating to World Trade
Organisation (WTO) negotiations on trade in
services [1].
The documents the European Union's
executive Commission refuses to release
relate to the various requests for
liberalisation made to the European Union
(EU) by other countries and the equivalent
requests made by the EU to other countries
[2]. The various requests have all been made
in the context of the WTO negotiations on
trade in services (GATS).[3]
Serious concerns at the manner in which
the GATS round has been negotiated led
earlier this year to a formal call by
European and UK parliamentarians to the
Commission to account for its actions before
the European Parliament and to ensure that
its negotiations were conducted in an open
and transparent way with the involvement of
the European Parliament [4].
Friends of the Earth is also concerned to
ensure that, in the face of EU calls for a
sweeping expansion of WTO powers at the
Cancun WTO Ministerial meeting in September
this year, such questions of democratic
legitimacy are answered fully and
plainly.
Friends of the Earth Corporate
Globalisation campaigner, Eve Mitchell
said:
"Given the sweeping powers of WTO
agreements and the potential of GATS to
affect much of our daily lives, it is vital
that the process by which those agreements
are reached is transparent and democratic.
The GATS process has been neither.
Parliamentarians and members of the public
have simply not had access to key
information."
Friends of the Earth's Legal Advisor, Phil
Michaels said:
"The fact that we have had to make this
complaint shows how far the Commission still
has to travel to meet its stated aim to give
the 'fullest possible effect to the right of
public access to documents' and to bring
about greater openness in the work of the
institutions. The main reason given by the
Commission for the refusal to release the
documents is that doing so would harm the
sovereignty of the EU and its member states.
The Commission's argument holds no water
either in fact or law and we strongly hope
that the Ombudsman upholds our
complaint."
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Phil Michaels in London (U.K.): +44-207
566 1725 +44-7957 144898 (mobile)
Alexanda Wandel in Brussels (Belgium) : +
49-172 7483953 (mobile)
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The requests were made by Friends of
the Earth England, Wales, Northern Ireland
(EWNI) under "Regulation 1049/2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council
and Commission documents". The Commission has
repeatedly refused access to these documents
on the basis that to do so would 'undermine
the protection of the public interest as
regards international relations' (Regulation
4(1)(a)). The request has been refused twice
following which it is open to an applicant to
commence proceedings before the Ombudsman by
way of a formal complaint.
[2] The documents requested consist
of:
a) Requests made by the EU to other WTO
members in the context of the WTO
negotiations on trade in services in
accordance with the Doha Development
Agenda;
b) All Requests and supplementary Requests
made by non-EU WTO members to the EU c) The
Draft Initial Offer by the EU to non-EU WTO
members.
[3] Friends of the Earth's GATS briefing
can be found at
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/gats_gotta_go.pdf
http://www.foe.co .uk/resourc
e/briefings/gats_gotta_go.pdf
[4] In a submission from the European
branch of the International Parliamentary
Network the Parliamentarians noted that "We
are especially worried because the GATS
negotiations have been undertaken in total
secrecy, with no democratic oversight
whatsoever. Nothing justifies the fact that
parliamentarians are not informed concerning
these ongoing negotiations. It is,
furthermore, unacceptable that European and
national parliamentarians, citizens, public
service trade unions and NGOs should only be
informed afterwards, when everything has
already been decided, so that so-called
"consultations" of the European or national
parliaments become more formalities.
Transparency should be the rule."
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