ACADEMICS RAISE ALARM
OVER U.S. TRADE AGREEMENT
From: http://researchprofessional.com
Academics raise alarm over US trade agreement
22nd May 2014
Higher education must be excluded from any future trade partnership between the
EU and the United States to avoid an influx of private universities, according
to university groups.
Concerns have been raised as discussions are under way about a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, designed to reduce barriers to trading goods
and services. Discussions on the TTIP began in July last year and are
proceeding on the basis of a negative list approach, meaning that unless a
subject is explicitly excluded, it could be up for negotiation. If higher
education is tabled, the implications are that both sides could open their
borders to free competition from elsewhere, a stark change for many EU
countries in which universities are state-owned and protected.
Howard Davies, an adviser at the European University Association, says higher education is a public good that should remain outside the remit of such an agreement. It’s mainly a member state jurisdiction, and member states should continue to have the right to run their systems as they please, he says.
Education International, the global federation of teachers unions, is also pushing for education to be exempt. ‘Including it in an EU-US partnership would directly lead to an increase in privatisation, which we oppose’, says Guntars Catlaks, the unions senior coordinator for research. Negotiators are also considering agreements on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, intellectual property, e-commerce and data protection, which could affect universities.
Some member states may support a TTIP higher education agreement as they are in
favour of commodification. In the UK there are universities that have opened campuses abroad and the whole ambience is entrepreneurial, says Davies. But that’s not true of other countries.
However, awareness of the TTIP negotiations in universities and rector associations remains low, which could be a problem if higher education is included in a final deal. If an agreement is reached, it will be presented to ministers and the European Parliament and there won’t be much time for lobby groups to amend whatever has been decided, says Davies.
The Parliament and environmental groups have been pushing for more transparency in the discussions to aid public debate. Davies says this has made the negotiating parties more nervous about public opinion. But it will never be totally transparent because you can’t conduct negotiations in a glass box, he says.
This article also appeared in Research Europe
- See more at:
https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/europe/politics/2014/5/Academics-raise-alarm-over-US-trade-agreement.html#sthash.v2KMMid4.dpuf
**END**
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NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN ON
NEW SERVICES DEAL
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/news_details/2615/
Negotiations begin on new services deal (05 July 2013)
Trade talks aimed at developing a new global services pact have begun following
an agreement on a negotiating framework earlier this year.
The Trade in International Services Agreement (TISA) is
being negotiated by the so-called ‘Real Good Friends of Services’ within the
World Trade Organisation: Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
European Union, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway,
Pakistan, Panama, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the
United States.
Informal talks within the group began last year in response
to pressure from business groups frustrated with the impasse in WTO
negotiations to develop new and enhanced commitments under the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
In March, negotiators agreed to adopt a ‘hybrid’ framework for the talks which
would involve countries making market access commitments on a ‘positive list’
basis, and national treatment on a ‘negative list’ basis. With a positive list
approach, countries agree to liberalise only those service sectors that they
agree to, while with a negative list agreeing to liberalise all areas except
those explicitly excluded.
The WTO members engaged in the talks have indicated that no service sector will
be excluded, but some are pushing for priorities. A joint Australia-EU paper
issued late last year suggested 10 issues should be the focus of the TISA:
cross-border movement of professionals; domestic regulation and transparency;
financial services; professional services; information and communications
services; transport and logistics services;
maritime services; environmental services; energy services; and
government procurement.
‘While education services are not a specific focus of the talks to date, we
nevertheless need to watch developments closely, says Education International’s
trade consultant David Robinson. ‘For instance, the inclusion of domestic
regulation could affect rules around the
accreditation of schools, and around qualification requirements that
could have an impact on the design and
delivery of vocational education and training’.
Robinson added that the targeting of financial services for further
liberalisation is particularly worrisome given how weak regulatory oversight
played a key role in the economic crisis of 2008.
‘If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past few years it’s that the
liberalisation of financial services has been a catastrophic disaster for the
economy, for government finances, for working people, and for public services
including education,’ Robinson said. ‘Trade deals threaten to constrain policy
space precisely at a time when governments need to rein in the financial
sector’.
Robinson noted reports that the financial industry is lobbying to use trade
deals as a way of weakening domestic regulations.
According to U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, there are ‘growing
murmurs’ about the financial industry’s efforts to ‘do quietly through trade
agreements what they can’t get done in public view with the lights on and
people watching’.
In letter published in May, Peter Allgeier, a former U.S. Trade Representative
and now president of the Coalition of Services Industries, said that trade
rules require that regulations are ‘least trade and investment distorting’ and
do not constitute a ‘disguised barrier to trade’.
Meanwhile, WTO members not participating in the TISA talks have criticized the
initiative as undermining the multilateral approach of the WTO. Brazil, China,
and India have been vocal opponents of TISA.
**END**
Posted here by Glenn
Rikowski
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