Subject: MAI Treaty Talks Collapse????
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 222753 -0600 (CST)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru@hotmail.com
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Hi everybody:
The connection between the MAI Treaty and the EMF issue has been a
slim one, but valid (I think). Those of you who are following that
aspect will surely be interested in the following news item.....
If I may be permitted a quick "off the top of the head" political
science observation ... I would say that the _internet activity_ on
this issue has played a significant role in this outcome!!!!
Cheerio.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org..............http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html
................................It is better to light a single candle ...
than to curse the darkness...............................................
MAI NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE
UTRECHT, The Netherlands, March 23, 1998 (ENS) - An international agreement
nick-named the "corporate rule treaty" by critics has been stopped in its
tracks. The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) would grant
investors unprecedented rights over governments, disabling governments'
regulatory authority at all levels, and imparing the ability of governments
to regulate behaviour affecting the environment.
Frans Engering, Dutch chair of the MAI Negotiating Group, admitted the
failure of the negotiations during a heated public debate in the
Netherlands on Saturday. The debate was held at a conference, "Development
in Africa," organised by the Evert Vermeer Foundation in Utrecht. Engering
said he would recommend to governments that they not sign the treaty at the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial
Conference in April as they had originally intended.
The treaty has been negotiated in secrecy at the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development by the 29 member countries and a handful of
observer states since 1995.
This is the first time that the usually bullish Chair has signalled defeat
in the negotiations. Engering acknowledged that failure to sign will mean
at least another one year delay. The treaty was to have been signed at the
last OECD Ministerial Conference in May 1997.
The far-reaching provisions of MAI would cover virtually every economic
sector and jeopardise laws protecting the environment, social welfare,
labour rights, health and worker safety.
If the treaty is completed in its current form, the MAI would require
local, state and national governments to:
Treat foreign corporations the same as or better than local companies
Pay foreign investors compensation for environmental and other laws
that have "the effect of taking" investors' assets
Defend lawsuits from foreign corporations in special international
courts closed to public scrutiny.
Friends of the Earth International today welcomed the failure of
negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment.
Kevin Dunion, chair of Friends of the Earth International said, "This is an
extremely significant political moment. Engering has admitted that the game
is up and the only future for the negotiations is downhill. The force of
public and parliamentary opposition world-wide to this extremely
undemocratic treaty, combined with internal squabbling, has successfully
derailed it. It is a defeat for would-be corporate rulers and a victory for
democracy. Negotiators must take note and abandon hopes of pushing through
this flawed treaty."
The unravelling of MAI negotiations reveals the increasing power of
environmental, labour, development and other citizen organisations to block
pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment deals.
The draft MAI has attracted world-wide opposition. More than 565 groups
from over than 70 countries have endorsed a statement calling for a
suspension of the negotiations. They want environmental, social and
development reviews of the treaty; and they are demanding that any future
negotiations take place in a more democratic forum.
On March 9, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly (437 to 8) in
favour of a resolution supportive of these demands and calling on EU member
States and parliaments not to sign the MAI as it stands.
However the derailment of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment at the
OECD does not mean that this victory is the final word about international
investment rules, according to Friends of the Earth.
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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html