#watercharges #irishwater #privatisation #TTIP Heard of TTIP? Wouldnt blame you if you hadnt, it was drafted in secret after all! Its the impending Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership free trade agreement between the EU and the US. Very important in its own right, as it will have far reaching effects (workers rights, animal welfare, environmental protection, food safety, GM crops, etc.) , but it is also relevant to the water charges, in particular water privatisation. Excerpt: ... Both sides in the TTIP negotiations have made clear their intention to use TTIP to get access to what is described as “public monopolies” that is, public utilities including water. These services would then be vulnerable to greater outsourcing and private tendering for service delivery and eventually, to privatisation. TTIP would open up public procurement contracts to the private sector, meaning that social, environmental or “public good” goals in public procurement would be removed. A private monopoly can fix its price at an unaffordable level, as Bechtel did in Bolivia, leading to a popular uprising; the termination of the contract and replacement of the government. It would also make the nationalisation (or renationalisation) of services or resources virtually impossible, as incredibly, corporations would be able to sue for loss of future and expected profits. This is facilitated by the inclusion of an (ISDS) Investor – State Dispute Settlement clause in TTIP. TTIP would increase the pressure for the privatisation of ‘services of general interest’, such as water services. Foreign suppliers of services of general interest should not be entitled to claim “forgone profits” through ISDS. This provision, in effect would further legalise neo-liberalism as the economic and social framework in Ireland and the EU. But even if ISDS is removed from TTIP, the main goal remains; to remove regulatory ‘barriers’ which restrict the potential profits to be made by transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet these ‘barriers’ are in reality some of our most prized social standards and environmental regulations, such as labour rights, food safety rules, regulations on the use of toxic chemicals and digital privacy laws. Public water provision is only one of the services under threat from TTIP. Both water charges and TTIP must be defeated!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 16:00:00 +0000
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