Strasbourg, 14/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - In adopting a joint resolution from the PPE-DE, ELDR and PSE groups on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) within the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the European Parliament welcomes the European Commission's initial proposal. The Paliament is delighted that the Commission has put forward no offer of liberalisation in the health, education and audiovisual sectors. It invites the Commission to maintain this position throughout the GATS negotiations and to make sure that there are no exceptions to this right. The Parliament supports the right of each WTO member state to regulate public services and services of general interest as well as to maintain the principle of universal service obligations. It also supports the Commission in its desire to uphold the possibility for the Community, its Member States and its regions to preserve and enhance their capacity to define and implement policies in the culture and audiovisual sectors which seek to preserve their cultural diversity (see the debate in Europe, 12 March, p11).
This is a bad resolution which reflects « the liberal views and a degree of naivety on the part of a majority of MEPs as to the supposed virtues of liberalising services», commented the French socialist Harlem Désir, while stressing the fact that the resolution does not give the European Commission «carte blanche».