Democracy and Public Services in Europe Group: Press Conference

dublin | eu | event notice Sunday November 30, 2003 15:50 by ec

New EU Constitution undermines democratic control of education, cultural and health services

The press conference and follow-up seminar on Saturday 6th in the Teachers' Club will provide a critical contrast to the Fianna Fáil/ Progressive Democrat Government's unquestioning embrace of the neo-liberal economic agenda in the Draft EU Constitution. Their stance will be celebrated at the IEA/TEPSA Conference on ‘The Irish Presidency of the EU’ in Dublin Castle on the same day.

DATE: FRIDAY DECEMBER 5TH AT 11.30 AM

VENUE: EARL OF KILDARE, KILDARE STREET, DUBLIN 2.

SPEAKERS: DR. FRANZ-JOSEF STUMMANN OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE EUROPEAN REGIONS, JOE HIGGINS TD (SOCIALIST PARTY), PATRICIA MCKENNA MEP (GREEN PARTY) AND MARY LOU MCDONALD (SINN FÉIN).

This Press Conference is organised by the DAPSE* Group. It will address concerns regarding certain effects of the Draft EU Constitution: EU Member States will be unable to maintain democratic control of Health, Education, and Cultural Services.

This Constitution would put neo-liberal economic policy into basic EU law. Democratically elected governments would be powerless to change these decisions in the future.

The press conference and follow-up seminar on Saturday 6th in the Teachers' Club will provide a critical contrast to the Fianna Fáil/ Progressive Democrat Government's unquestioning embrace of the neo-liberal economic agenda in the Draft EU Constitution. Their stance will be celebrated at the IEA/TEPSA Conference on ‘The Irish Presidency of the EU’ in Dublin Castle on the same day.

Dr. Schumann of the Assembly of the European Regions is a vocal critic of the proposed new EU Constitution. Under the new Constitution, the EU Commission will make proposals to the Council of Ministers, which could decide by Qualified Majority Voting to liberalise trade in Education and Health Services as part of the GATS negotiations with the WTO.

This could include almost anything – from catering to full operational management, as in Britain. The only area Member States would determine is the general policy on these services, not how or by whom they should be delivered.

The new constitution will remove the existing power of veto of Member States over decisions to privatise education and health services. No record of voting would be published. Irish Citizens would not even know how Irish representatives voted on such issues in the Council of Ministers.

Joe Higgins and Patricia McKenna have made similar criticisms of previous EU Treaties in the context of referendum debates in Ireland, notably in the debate leading up to the referendum on the Treaty of Nice.

DR. STUMMANN IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS IN DUBLIN ON FRIDAY 5TH AND SATURDAY 6TH.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:


Brendan Young 085 7131903
Conor Ó Bríain 01 6351711 / 087 9189729
Eamonn Crudden 01 6016691 / 086 1941702

*DAPSE was formed after a workshop on the GATS at the Irish Social Forum in October this year. It is a non-aligned campaign group.