Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-14-Speech-3-486-000"
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"en.20111214.30.3-486-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank the Committee on International Trade and its rapporteur, Mr Cutaş, for this interim report.
First, the object of this consent procedure is an amendment to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Uzbekistan concerning trade in textiles. Its only objective is to ensure that textile exports from the EU to Uzbekistan would get most-favoured-nation treatment. So let us keep clearly in mind that we are talking about an agreement that gives legal certainty to the EU and does not grant any benefits to Uzbekistan itself.
The Commission is well aware of the problem of child labour in the cotton sector in Uzbekistan and fully shares Parliament’s concerns in this respect. We have already been monitoring for quite some time Uzbekistan’s compliance with its obligations in the field of child labour under the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the relevant United Nations conventions. The EU regularly relays concerns about forced child labour in the country in its political dialogue with Uzbekistan.
The country has taken some steps to address the problem, notably by ratifying two ILO conventions concerning child labour and by setting up a national legislative framework against forced labour and child labour. However, what matters is not only the ratification but the actual implementation of these conventions. In this respect, it is a fact that the use of child labour in the cotton sector in Uzbekistan is still an issue of concern.
Therefore the Commission will, in close cooperation with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, continue to monitor the situation and actively scale up its efforts to urge the Uzbek Government to take the necessary steps to fully implement the ILO conventions.
We undertook a mission to Uzbekistan in November 2011. The EU team enjoyed the full cooperation of the Uzbek authorities and discussions with international organisations confirmed some positive changes in certain regions during this year’s harvest.
The Uzbek authorities showed new openness to discuss the issue and there have been some positive signs about cooperation with the ILO. The Uzbek side emphasised that the problem can only be handled by means of a gradual approach, notably by restructuring and diversifying the agricultural sector so as to reduce dependency on the cotton sector.
We fully agree with Parliament – and this has been our message to the Uzbek authorities – that the best way to have a clear and accurate picture of the situation would be to allow the ILO to undertake a mission to the country.
The Commission is open to make the necessary arrangements with Parliament to jointly monitor the situation in cooperation with the relevant international institutions and to regularly assess the situation with a view to resuming this consent procedure as soon as reasonably possible. While we fully understand the justified human rights concerns, we are of the view that an agreement that serves only the EU deserves to receive the consent of the European Parliament in a timely manner."@en1
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