USA-Australia Trade Deal on Public Health shows way for Proposed Antidemocratic EU Constitution

international | eu | opinion/analysis Tuesday January 20, 2004 18:11 by Barry Finnegan - personal capacity john.finnegan3 at mail dot dcu dot ie

USA Attacks Australias Right To Bulk Buy Medical Drugs To Supply Public Health System

Current trade negotiations between the USA and Australia shed some light on exactly how the EU Commission and the secretive EU 133 Committee view future international trade deals with regard to our (EU) public health systems.

Basically the USA is trying to force Australia into accepting that when the state bulk buys medicinal drugs it is acting illegally, distorting international trade and creating unnecessarily restrictive trade barriers.

The Australian state bulk buys the medicinal drugs so that it can provide them free and/or sell them cheap to the Australian public.

How did I find this out? Why does it show the way for the Antidemocratic Proposed EU Constitution? Read on ...

Well, before the USA or Australia sign an international trade deal, (1) the full details of the deal must be made public so the people can read it and (2) their respective elected assemblies must vote yes or no.

Whereas if this Antidemocratic Proposed EU Constitution comes in, the EU 133 Committee can sign a trade deal on health matters, like this one, on our behalf. It would be illegal for the members of the Dail, the members of the EU Parliament and the public at large to see the entire details of the deal until after it was signed. Should any of you be sceptical just ask: 'What do they mean when they say "progressive liberalisation"? This, type of thing is 'progressive liberalisaiton', it is exactly what Bertie means when he says (I paraphrase) 'competition will be high on the agenda during our EU presidency ... we must create a level playing field and break down the old monopolies in certain service industries'.

So in effect it would work like this:

1. This Dodgy Proposed EU Constitution comes in.
2. The EU Council of Ministers, through the new QMV, gives the nod to the 133 Committee to enter secret/private international trade negotiations on health.
3. Two years later (I speculate, it could be 1 or 3!) we discover the government is not allowed to bulk buy medicine on our behalf with the intention of keeping prices down for the public at large.
4. If you have a problem with that, the only meaningful legal forum in which to raise it is the DRM (or, court) of the WTO. If a new Irish government wishes to overturn the decision, the USA (for example) would have the legal right to commence a WTO sponsored trade war against us.

So bottom line:

1. Lets educate ourselves as to the effect of this proposed EU Constitution, fight it now, defeat it and continue the battle to retain and improve some sort of democratic accountability in our public health system. Let us have the wherewithal to win a small battle now so as to stop people dying in the very near future.

2. If anyone knows anyone working in the medical field tell them that the supply of public medicinal drugs in under direct attack from this new EU Constitution and to retain democratic control over our health system we must defeat it.
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For further details on the USA attack on the Australian public health system see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1126657,00.html

For general info on how GATS works [i.e. the WTO global trade deal which relates to services, including health] see:
Title: Behind GATS 2000: Corporate Power at Work
Published By: TNI Briefing Series No. 6, May 2002 [WTO Booklet Series No. 4]
Available At: http://www.tni.org/reports/wto/wto4.htm

BTW:
I am not suggesting that the right-wing Aussie government is doing anything other than using this trade deal with the USA to:
(a) further reduce the states financial liability to public health care, and
(b) further increase the profit margins of the largest companies in the world.
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- Barry Finnegan.
(off my own bat).