Brussels, 29/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a statement sent to the European Commission on 27 June, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called upon it to reconsider its position in negotiations under the the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the WTO. Whilst it takes note of the EU's decision to take no new commitments on public services such as education, healthcare and audiovisual services, ETUC voices serious concerns on several points. Once again, it regrets the fact that the EU has made proposals at the WTO on the liberalisation of markets for services without involving the social partners, or carrying out a serious evaluation of the impact of this for Europe and the developing countries. In its statement, ETUC calls on the Commission to withdraw its request for the liberalisation of water distribution services in developing countries, in particular. On the EU's offer subsequently to liberalise the temporary movement of highly-qualified service-providers and various services such as postal services, ETUC stresses the need for serious guarantees on the respect for fundamental standards of work and national employment law in the host country. It also feels that the possibility should be kept in place of bringing labour market criteria to bear in order to regulate the movements of service-providers. Lastly, ETUC feels that the regulatory framework for European postal services should be added to and that provisions for universal services should be tightened up before taking any further international commitments.