Madam, - Anybody with doubts or illusions as to the trajectory of the EU with regard to "liberalisation" would do well to examine the European Commission's Directive on Services in the Internal Market (Bolkestein Directive) and the EU Constitution in the light of the disputes at An Post and Irish Ferries.
The SDS operation is being closed as part of An Post's preparation for full liberalisation of the Irish postal market in 2009. Liberalisation will allow transnational carriers to compete with An Post for postal contracts, fragmenting the service and raising a threat to rural deliveries - not to mention the pay and conditions of postal workers. Workers in Irish Ferries are fighting the "outsourcing" of labour: the company wants to use agency workers, probably East European, who will work for much lower wages.
How does all this relate to the EU? The Bolkestein Directive, currently under consideration by EU governments prior to ratification, is very revealing. Central to the directive is the "country of origin" principle. This would allow a privately owned provider, based in a country where regulations allow low standards, to operate according to "country of origin" regulations - in other EU countries. So who knows what regulations would apply to the Irish postal service? And efforts in other services to raise standards by means of enforceable regulations - in old people's homes, for example - would be undermined.
The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers says the Bolkstein Directive will nullify the Posted Workers Directive, which requires a foreign employer who sends workers to another country to observe the pay and conditions of the country of employment. The "outsourcing" at Irish Ferries shows just how weak this protection is; and Bolkstein would wipe it out.
This is what the Commission - including Charlie McCreevy - understand as "liberalisation". As to the EU Constitution, promotion of "uniform measures of liberalisation. . .in services" is central to its Common Commercial Policy. The same aim is in the Nice Treaty, but new in the Constitution is the end of the unrestricted power of veto which member-states have on trade agreements in health, education and cultural and audio-visual services.
These trade agreements - the stuff of "liberalisation" - are made on our behalf by the European Commission in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS agreements entail progressive elimination of regulations, so that a foreign company can compete to provide a service - with no preferences allowed for existing domestic providers. Under the Constitution, governments that oppose liberalisation of health, education and cultural and audio-visual services could be outvoted, since their unrestricted veto is gone. So the Constitution would make it much easier for the Commission to make GATS deals in all public services - something they already want to do. The Constitution thus provides the framework to further liberalise public services across the EU. The Bolkestein Directive shows the direction the Commission wants to go: and the current industrial disputes show the implications of liberalisation for workers and services. "Socialists" of various hues - in the Government and the Opposition - might wish to reflect upon this. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN YOUNG, Dublin Road, Celbridge, Co Kildare.