BM 67 – Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
The Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnerships negotiations have been ongoing between the European Union and United States.
The inclusion of education in trade and service agreements is detrimental to society. Agreements which promote education as a good to be traded dismiss the multiple purposes of education, endanger access and contribute to the commodification of education.
ESU firmly believes that education is one of the main pillars of modern civilisation and must be considered a public good and public responsibility.
ESU calls on the TTIP negotiators to exclude education from their agreements as they have already done with cultural and audio visual services.
The closed and secretive approach taken by those involved when contacted by stakeholders from many sectors and the general public is very concerning. On December 4th 2014 EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom agreed with the concerns of stakeholders in saying ‘we need to open up the TTIP talks further’. She has also called for a fresh start in TTIP for more transparency and bigger engagement of civil society.
ESU calls upon negotiation teams from both sides to open up their talks and consider the concerns of stakeholders.
