WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

poses a minimum of restriction and strain” on trade and industry. In
this case, too, there is almost unlimited scope for interpretation. The
thought of a WTO arbitration service determining the effectiveness of
measures which a nation itself considers to be necessary – dismissing
in the process the political will of the population – is positively
ludicrous. This prerogative is neither democratically legitimate nor can
it be derived from the WTO’s doctrine, which states that free trade is
indispensable if people are to live together in peace.
Particularly problematic is the fact that once contractual
commitments have been entered into, it is almost impossible to
revoke them. Should a country nevertheless wish to free itself from the
stranglehold of the GATS agreement or withdraw its consent to open
up its market, then it may do so only if it allows further liberalisation
in other areas. What this means in practical terms is: once a nation
has opened up its electricity market, for example, and for some reason
or other, now wishes to reverse the process, it is compelled to make
alternative offers relating to other sectors, and all the other WTO
members have to give their approval.
The greatest pressure to liberalise the water market is exerted by
Europe. In 1999, Sir Leon Brittain, Pascal Lamy’s predecessor as EU
trade commissioner, founded the European Services Forum (ESF), an
industrial lobbying group which allowed banks or European companies
active in the service sector – i.e. education, water, energy, refuse
disposal, transport – to participate directly in the GATS negotiations
or represent their own interests there. National parliaments and civil
society groups, on the other hand, were not invited. They have never
had – and still do not have – access to the contents of most negotiations.
This state of affairs would explain the fierce criticism directed towards
the WTO by many people who believe that the organisation has
already assumed the role of “world government”, responsible solely
for the promotion of business interests.
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