American efforts to open up education services in current trade negotiations suffered a serious setback last month when the European Commission announced it was ruling out any immediate commitments to liberalize post-secondary education services.

EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said the decision was made because of fears that including education in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) could potentially lead to the elimination of public subsidies and grants for universities and colleges.

The EU's position "ensures that services of collective interest, such as education and health, are preserved," Lamy said in a statement.

CAUT's director of policy and communication, David Robinson, said the EU decision is a victory for teachers and other education workers concerned about the impact of trade liberalization.

"The United States is aggressively seeking to include education in GATS negotiations," Robinson said. "If the EU had backed the same position, the pressures on Canada and other smaller countries to make commitments would have been that much more difficult to push back. Now, we're likely to see more countries lining up to say that education is a public service and should not be covered by commercial trade rules."

Despite the EU declaration, many of the 19 member states have requested that education services be included in GATS negotiations. In addition to the U.S., Australia and New Zealand are also seeking further liberalization in the sector.