Brussels, 17/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Visiting London on Monday 16 February, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström gave assurances that the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) would not affect the British National Health Service (NHS).
“TTIP poses absolutely no risk to the NHS, or any other public service, or to our regulations and standards”, Malmström said during a debate organised by the European Parliament information office in London - at which she spoke about TTIP with British political leaders, business representatives, unions, consumers, environmentalists and academics. Malmström's visit came as part of her European tour to promote TTIP.
“The European Commission, the European Parliament, the UK government, the governments of the other 27 EU member states, and the government of the United States have all made one point very clear from the very beginning: we will not sign a deal that lowers our standards. We are implementing those pledges by focusing our regulatory cooperation efforts on areas where we have the same level of protection but technical differences create unnecessary trade barriers”, Malmström stated, mentioning car safety, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, financial services, textiles and engineering. “We are implementing these pledges by not working on issues where the differences are too large. That's why TTIP will not change European legislation on hormone-injected beef and GMOs”, she said.
Beyond regulation, “we must implement those pledges by safeguarding public services like the National Health Service”, Malmström continued. “We in Brussels understand and admire the principle of fairness that lies behind the NHS. We understand the achievement it represents to deliver health care to a country of 60 million people, free at the point of delivery (…) I want to make it absolutely clear that the health services will not be affected in any way by TTIP. The EU has a tried-and-tested system of legal reservations and exceptions that make sure that trade agreements do not affect EU governments' freedom to organise their public services how they want to. We will use them again in TTIP. They make clear: that the UK will not have to open public health services to competition from private providers (…) that the UK will not have to outsource public health services to private providers (…) and that the UK will be free to change its policies in future”, Malmström said.
As regards the thorny issue of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), Malmström stated that negotiations on this issue were “frozen” while awaiting a new EU approach based on the public consultation conducted in spring 2014. “That approach will have to balance two objectives: to protect the EU investments overseas (…) And to make sure that nothing in any investment agreement will undermine our freedom to regulate or provide public services to the people of Europe. We will need to discuss the way forward with member states and with the European Parliament before we go back to the negotiating table. But I can be clear on one thing right now: nothing in TTIP will prevent an outsourced public service from being brought back into the public sector. And not renewing a contract would not give any grounds for compensation”, she said.
British requirements. During his meeting with Mogherini, British Business Secretary Vince Cable called for increased transparency in the TTIP negotiations in order to assuage fears in the UK about the risks of the future transatlantic agreement affecting public services and making the country vulnerable in the face of legal action from multinationals on ISDS procedures.
“I dislike the level of secrecy that has surrounded the transatlantic trade deal so far”, said Cable in a press release before the meeting, and he promised he would “be working to ensure all British interests are protected and that the deal can be properly scrutinised”. “We must also clearly demonstrate that the NHS and our public services are protected as a priority. The EU has recently given us very strong assurances that TTIP would not in any way endanger them. I want to see that reflected in the treaty drafting”, Cable insisted. Furthermore, “as with the NHS, our high standards when it comes to the environment and foods are not up for negotiation. If we can recognise mutually high standards with the US we will do so. But where we can't, US businesses will have to raise their game to meet our higher standards, not the other way around”, he added. As regards the ISDS clause, Cable underlined the need to “demonstrate clearly” that TTIP must never enable investors to sue the British government if they believe that have suffered damage through its decisions on health, the environment or consumer safety. (Emmanuel Hagry)