Social Platform letter to European Council: Preserve the general interest in the negotiations on TTIP
On 25-26 June, Heads of State and Governments will meet to discuss the situation of Greece and other issues, including the negotiation on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
In our letter, we expressed our concerns about the negotiations on TTIP and present our requests.
1. Exclude all social services, and health and education services of general interest, regardless if they are publicly or privately funded.
We call for the exclusion from the scope of TTIP, through a positive list, of public services and services of general interest (SGI), in particular in the social, health and education fields, regardless of whether they are publicly or privately funded. The recent vote of the European Parliament’s INTA Committee unambiguously requests that all public services are exempt from TTIP, irrespective of how they are provided and funded.
2. Base TTIP negotiations on the acquis of the new public procurement directive, the services directive and the recently revised state aid rules.
Trade agreements must be in line with the existing secondary EU law that recognises the specific characteristics of SGI, to ensure policy coherence. In particular, the exceptions foreseen in the services directive for healthcare and social services should be integrated in the same way in TTIP. The negotiations shouldhave no impact on the provisions of the public procurement directive that allow contracting authorities to promote sustainable development and the ones on social and health services, as well as on the schemes and subsidies compliant with article 106 TFEU and the “Almunia package”.
3. Do not use Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in order to preserve the general interest
Social Platform calls on the Commission not to include ISDS in TTIP. Both the EU and the US must be considered to have advanced legal systems which have sufficiently strong legal mechanisms to reassure foreign investors.
We hope that Heads of state and government will consider our proposals and respond positively to our concerns.
Read our full letter.
