Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-16-Speech-4-030"
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"en.20020516.1.4-030"2
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"Madam President, I congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Lannoye. I share his view that the Commission communication is too long on description, but too short on action. I should like to make two points.
The first point concerns the section of the communication on trade for sustainable development. The Commission is still too willing to make the unthinking assumption that trade liberalisation is an aim in itself, rather than a tool to serve the greater purpose of sustainable development. Contrary to the Commission's assertion that most causes of global inequality are unrelated to globalisation, the widening gap between the rich and the poor has developed precisely because unregulated markets and free capital mobility have tended to favour the countries, companies and individuals most able to harness these forces for their own benefit, at the expense of those with fewer resources or less political and economic influence. Accelerated environmental degradation over recent years has occurred as a direct result of the increase in resource consumption and economic activity generated under globalisation.
Secondly, coming from Parliament's rapporteur on corporate social responsibility, the Commissioner will not be surprised to be told that his commitment to simply promoting the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprise is wholly inadequate, in Parliament's view, as the European Union's contribution to developing global corporate accountability.
In today's global economy there is mounting evidence that multinationals registered in the north, the majority of them within the European Union, are actually causing harm in developing countries. Transgressions include abusing workers' rights and causing them bodily harm, destroying local lands and livelihoods, promoting harmful products to consumers, breaking national laws and undermining local democracy. That is why we will support Paragraph 59 in the resolution. The EU should use its development assistance and other external powers to pursue the objective of binding minimum standards with respect to the social and environmental performance of companies.
Commissioner, you can make a good start by making a clear and unambiguous commitment in your response to support the proposed framework convention on corporate accountability at the Johannesburg Summit. I look forward to your answer."@en1
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