Brussels, 07/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - At a European Parliament public hearing on Thursday, the European Commission Pascal Lamy explained his position on behalf of the Union in negotiations in Geneva on services and investment, taking the same opportunity to refute "positions wrongly attributed to me". "The requests do not seek to dismantle public services, nor to privatise state-owned companies (…) They do not touch on the issue of access to water resources and in no way undermine or reduce governments' ability to regulate pricing or availability of water supplies, or any other public service", he stressed, adding that "contrary to received wisdom, the WTO serves as a necessary and effective bulwark against savage liberalisation". In fact, he said, "the negotiations concern trade in services, not the regulation of these services (…) Each country is free to decide which sectors will be opened to international competition and which will not, and unlike in trade in goods, commitments in services are not reciprocal". As to investment, where talks have made considerably less progress, "the European proposals differ greatly in substance from the 1998 MAI project", in that: - the negotiations would include all WTO members and not just those of the OECD and would only cover foreign direct investments (FDI); - disputes will be settled between States, with no investor-to-State settlement (individual investors will not be able to "sue governments", challenging national laws or decisions); - governments will retain control of social, environmental and development policy, and the decision to open the markets to FDI. "What we want is a coherent, basic framework of multilateral rules", said Mr Lamy, naming transparency as one of the European priorities of the agreement. As to the substance of the agreement, it should hinge upon: the handling of existing FDI; the basic principles guaranteeing non-discrimination (most favoured nation and national treatment, with possible exceptions); national treatment and market access commitments following a gradual approach (GATS-style) with each government deciding for itself which sectors to liberalise and which to protect; special and differential treatment for developing countries; each government retaining the right to regulate the market; exceptions and balance of payment safeguards.