Public Services Conference / Seattle to Brussels Network Conference

Early next year ’Protect the Future’ (Hungary) is organising two international conferences in which we would like to ensure there is a significant participation from organisations from Central and Eastern Europe concerned about;

 the privitisation of Public Services, GATS and/or the EU’s ’Bolkenstein Directive’,
 agricultural ’reform’ in the guise of inequitable and unsustainable EU and global agricultural trade agreements
 GMOs
 sweatshop production
 international trade injustices perpetrated through the WTO
 Fair Trade and other consumer issues such as eco-labelling, access to information, product boycotts, etc.

The two events are as follows:

Feb. 11-13: Public Services, Globalisation and Sustainability Conference: presently, across the CEE region, Public Services are being liberalised and privitised, without any public dialogue on the environmental and social consequences of following the neo-liberal ideology for essential public services - water, education, public transport, health care and postal services are all being placed on the market. The conference aims to bring together a wide range of organisations and researchers from east and west to share experiences of uncontrolled commodification of essential services and build a CEE wide network for further cooperation to work towards ecologically and socially sustainable public services.

Feb. 13-16: Seattle To Brussels Network Conference - Due to resilient opposition from farmers, women’s, workers’, peasant and environmental organisations, the WTO Cancun Summit ended without agreement on how the ’Doha Round’ of trade negotiations should progress. Since then organisations across Europe have been looking towards the next ministerial summit in Hong Kong, december 2005: How can we continue to oppose the EU’s corporate-led trade agenda? What is our strategy for Hong Kong? What do the EU and WTO directives and agreements mean for agricultural sustainability, trade equity and the future of public services? Protect the Future would like to facilitate a stronger cooperation on trade justice issues in the region, and to this end joined the Seattle to Brussels Network: by hosting this meeting of the S2B Network we hope to extend the network to the CEE region and allow organisations to share experience and strengthen each others campaigns. (for more on S2B see www.s2bnetwork.org / For background reading see www.s2bnetwork.org/statements_publications.htm)

The two conferences complement each other very well and we would urge potential participants to consider taking part in both. The first will give a thorough insight into the questions of commodification and public control of public services, primarily within the region and at EU level. The second will place these questions within a wider context of global trade agreements and their interlinkages as global power blocks play one ’deal’ off against the other, to the benefit of elites and corporations. Both will encourage involvement in international campaigns to strengthen and achieve public participation, accountability, sustainability and social justice.

Both conferences will use English as their working language.

Below you can read more about the Seattle to Brussels Network Conference, including the network coordinator’s letter of introduction to S2B. The registration form and the S2B program are attached as files, and here details of support for CEE participation can be found. The registration deadline is January 15th, 2005.

Also attached is the program for the Public Services, Globalisation and Sustainability Conference. If you would like to register, or require further details, please contact Balint Hamvas (hamvasb@vedegylet.hu)

Invitation to a strategy meeting of Seattle to Brussels Network, Budapest, Feb 13-16 2005

Dear friend and colleague,

Despite the rise of the alterglobalisation movements and a mounting critique of international trade liberalisation, the EU, led by the European Commission and backed by EU member states, has hold on to a predominantly neo-liberal agenda, serving corporate interests.

With the relaunch of the WTO negotiations in July 2004, the initiatives that the EU is now undertaken in bilateral and regional forums, the rising awareness of the impact of this neo-liberal agenda within the EU, and the recent accession of ten new member states to the EU, the urgency of further developing an effective challenge is more than needed.

The Seattle to Brussels Network [1] formed to challenge the corporate-driven agenda of the European Union and other European governments for continued global trade and investment liberalisation, would like to cordially invite you to a pan European strategy meeting on the EU’s corporate led trade agenda to be held in Budapest, Hungary from 13-16 February.

Objectives

The meeting will provide an opportunity to:

 Discuss and develop a pan European strategy and activities towards the HongKong WTO Ministerial Conference and beyond

 Discuss and set up issue specific working groups (e.g. HongKong strategy, GATS/services, NAMA, agriculture, corporate control etc.)

 Discuss longer term planning for the network

 Improve the network’s ways of campaigning effectively together

Participants

The meeting will bring together the broad range of S2B members: development, environment, human rights, women’s and farmers organisations, trade unions, social movements as well as research institutes and welcomes very much new members from across Europe, specifically from accession countries.

Please note that due to room constraints there will be a limit of 50 participants in total. The coordinating group seeks geographical and sectoral balance (participants from all EU countries) as well as balance from NGOS and social movements. Therefore we advise you to register as soon as possible but no later than 15 January to allow the coordinating group to confirm your participation. Priority will be given to signatories of the our world is not for sale network statement see www.ourworldisnotforsale.org (english) www.zpok.hu/globalizacio/wtofelh.htm (Hungarian)

Capacity building workshop

The S2B network coordinating group cordially invites all newcomers to the S2B network and to EU trade policy making to participate in a introductory session on the S2B network and EU trade policy making which will be held on Sunday afternoon. (see draft agenda below).

Call for proposals

We herewith also invite calls for proposals for

 Groups to be invited to the meeting, specifically from all accession countries as well as from Spain, Portugal, Greece. Groups should be sympathetic to the nature of the S2B network and the Our world is not for sale network statement (http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org).

 pan European campaign proposals on HongKong strategy as well as issue specific campaigns (Economic Partnership Agreements, services, NAMA, agriculture). Proposals should outline proposed a calendar of upcoming events, targets and possible joint activities be no longer than 2 pages long.

Both should be submitted as soon as possible but no later than mid January concerning groups and by 2 February concerning campaign proposals. They should be sent to the coordinating group to wtofoeeurope.org

Cost of participation

Groups from accession countries as well as from groups in financial needs can apply for costs to be covered, as a small budget will be available to cover these costs.

All other participants are expected to cover their own costs: this will be 16 € per day for accommodation in a hostel, otherwise free accommodation in private homes would be available. Meals will cost 15 € per day. Western European groups might be asked to contribute 50 € to covering the costs of the meeting. (This is because we have a pending application for travel reimbursement for groups but hope to get a positive answer from the foundation soon.)

Should you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact Tracey at Protect the Future (tracey@vedegylet.hu) for any practical matters as well as Alexandra Wandel, from the S2B coordinating group on any content related matter (at wto@foeeurope.org, only after 9 January).

We look forward to receiving proposals from you, your registration form and to seeing many of you in Budapest!

Protect the Future, Hungary

The S2B Network Coordinating Group

11.11.11, (Belgium), Attac (Austria), Attac (Denmark), Campaign to Reform the World Bank, (Italy),* *Corporate Europe Observatory (Netherlands), Friends of the Earth Europe, (Brussels), IATP (Geneva), Oxfam Solidarity, (Belgium), WEED (Germany), World Development Movement (UK).

Tracey Wheatley,
Project Coordinator,
Védegylet (Protect the Future)
Bp 1051, Nádor u. 32, Hungary
(00 36) (1) 269 4251

For more information

S2B Draft program / Schedule of events

Registration form

Public services programme

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