ESU, EI and ETUCE concerned about education in the proposed EU-US free trade deal

Students, teachers and trade unions have expressed their concerns on the EU-US free trade deal, TTIP, which is on the negotiation table at the moment. European Students’ Union (ESU), Education International (EI) and European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) are all organisations with whom OBESSU work in the field of education in Europe.

“Given the broad scope and high level of ambition of the TTIP, we are worried about how the deal could negatively affect education,” says Maroš Korman, member of the Executive Committee of European Students Union (ESU), in an article on the ESU website. “Without effective protections and exemptions from the rules of the TTIP, the education sector could be exposed to increased pressures of commercialisation and privatisation.”

Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of Education International (EI), says in the same article: “We have been told that public education will not be covered by the TTIP. However, proposed exemptions for education services are extremely weak, and private education services may in fact be included. The problem is that in many jurisdictions the line between what is public and what is private education is blurring so that any exemption for public education may prove to be inadequate.”

ETUCE has sent letters to Commissioners, Presidents of political groups in the European Parliament and different European Parliament Committees, and encourage their members to write to the national ministers as well.

“ETUCE has clearly stated that it is the responsibility of the government to provide free quality public education for all. While the US demand appears to apply to private education services only, there is ongoing debate about whether public education might also be exposed to the rules of the TTIP if commitments on private education are taken.” says Martin Rømer, ETUCE European Director.

You can find more information for example at the ESU website.