Brussels, 23/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Assembly of European Regions (AER), chaired by the vice minister of Niederösterreich (Austria) Liese Prokop, welcomed in a press statement, the adoption of the European constitution and its relevance to trade policy, notably because the text includes, "a last minute addition which states that the Council will act unanimously for the negotiation and conclusion of international agreements in the fields of culture, social, education and health services".
According to Prokop this "demonstrates the political will of the Member States to protect services of general interest in these areas from market rules and from being treated as commercial commodities". Ms Prokop thanked the Irish presidency for having, "recognised the importance of the issue, as well as all the other AER member regions and civil society organisations, which supported our campaign" for amending the Articles of the constitutional treaty on common trade policy, which, according to Prokop put quality and free access of European citizens to general interest service in culture, education, health and the social domain, at risk. Ms Prokop concluded that, "It seems that Member States have finally realised that, contrary to the arguments put forward by the European Commission, international agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Service (GATS) could pose a risk to social, educational, cultural and health services in Europe". (On the subject of the Committee of the Regions' reaction, see EUROPE yesterday p 15).