Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-04-Speech-4-037"
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"en.20020704.3.4-037"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission communication has – as you pointed out, Mr President – defined a strategy for promoting core labour standards in the context of globalisation. So, what does this strategy involve?
Commissioner, I have used an expression, highly prized by feminists, who said that things that are not given a name do not exist. I think that if core labour standards are not given a name, we will forget them, and they will cease to exist.
The third point relates to stepping up European efforts in its regional work and in the new regulatory areas which are being established throughout the world in order to adapt the promotion of core labour standards to local realities. The ILO is working on this and genuine synergy might be developed here. The debate is due to be launched on this issue with representatives of developing countries with the aim of identifying realistic and innovative action plans.
In our view, Commissioner, this communication is a step forward and should herald a change in the working methods that the European Union must develop with third countries, methods which, in particular, show more respect for these countries’ problems.
We also hope, Commissioner, that the Council will take up this issue as soon as possible and we call on the Danish Presidency to schedule an examination of the dossier at the next Social Affairs Council meeting.
I would like to conclude, Mr President, by passing on my very sincere thanks to all my fellow Members, especially those who, as part of the four committees which issued opinions, which we tried to integrate as best we could into the report, enabled us, I believe, to produce a better report, and will also, I hope, enable us to achieve a broad consensus.
First of all, let us reiterate that the core standards in question are those set out in the ILO’s Declaration of 1998, identified by the Copenhagen Summit and included in eight of the ILO conventions. They are the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Although the International Labour Organisation, the ILO, is indeed the body competent to define and negotiate the core labour standards, the European Council of October 1999 reiterated that the Union should strongly support the protection of core labour rights. The role of the European Union in the WTO has thus been particularly highlighted.
We must, however, note that the difficulties – indeed the impossibility of applying these rather basic rights at world level – are very real. At the same time, throughout the world, people are condemning a type of economic development that does not go hand in hand with social development and the communication itself notes that ‘market governance has developed more quickly than social governance’. Are we going to leave it at that?
First of all, I would like to welcome the communication as well as the proposals that it makes and point out the benefit and timeliness of launching a debate within our institutions on the relationship between globalisation, labour law and social governance. The communication also notes that, although market mechanisms and trade liberalisation are essential for development, they alone cannot guarantee development for everyone on this planet. With regard to core labour standards, this type of globalisation must involve implementing public regulations that are as effective as those implemented for the markets. The WTO cannot ignore these standards, neither can it be the only body that imposes global regulations. Nor can it be the organisation that dominates all the other institutions.
With these considerations in mind, we are submitting to you an opinion which is intended to supplement the Commission’s proposals. The opinion is based on some crucial ideas that are developed in the report. I would like to mention three points which, in my view, are fundamental.
The first point is the importance of defining and clarifying relations between the European Union, the ILO and the WTO. The major problem of applying core labour standards at world level highlights the lack of coherence, on the one hand, between the approaches of the various institutions, and, on the other hand, the weakness of world governance, its architecture, which is unsuited to today’s realities, as well as the lack of common hierarchy of rules between the various world regulatory systems.
To tackle this problem, the report recommends, amongst other things, that the EU-ILO partnership be reviewed and improved – this process is under way, which is to be welcomed; that the ILO obtain observer status at the WTO; that the ILO decisions, particularly the results of its monitoring procedures, be published and that the Union genuinely take them into account in its relations with third countries. The second guideline action concerns development policies. The European Union must develop an integrated approach for its policies and encourage a coordinated aid for promoting core labour standards. Let us take just one example. What is the use of banning child labour if, at the same time, we are not promoting education policies? What progress have we made on enhancing the right of expression of workers living in a country which is not a democracy or which is not a constitutional state?
Therefore, by using incentive clauses rather than penalty clauses, clauses which do not simply depend on commercial agreements, we call on the European Union to systematically integrate the clause on core labour standards into all agreements with third countries, whatever the area."@en1
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