Case: Policy coherence in general

10-11-2010 The European Parliament on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements

Policy Coherence for Development strives for more coherence of European policies in order to have a positive impact on development. This means that while creating new policies, every Committee in the Parliament and every Directorate General within the Commission should pay attention to development. The International Trade Committee tried to achieve this goal by writing a report on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements. They attempted to point out what the most important provisions should be. It goes without saying that the Development Committee wrote an opinion about this topic. On behalf of his colleagues in this Committee, Filip Kaczmarek (EPP) pointed out what the most important standards are.

When discussing both human rights ánd social ánd environmental standards in international trade agreements, there are various topics that should be discussed. That is why this opinion seems to be going all over the place. However in a attempt to summarise Kaczmarek, these are his main points:

  • Development must be in trade agreements, because there is a legal basis in both article 208 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the 1986 UN Declaration of the Right to Development. Article 208 states that in implementing policies in third countries, the objective of development cooperation must be met. Moreover, the declaration adds to this every person or group has a right to development and according to the Development Committee, the EU should not undermine this right;
  • Free trade could foster sustainable development, and should therefore be welcomed;
  • Special attention should be given to fisheries, since many people depend on fish for their livelihood. European fisheries agreements often have negative impact on the local population, since they cause over fishing and create environmental damage;
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be promoted;
  • The Internationals Labour Organisation (ILO) standards should be a precondition for a agreement;
  • Country-by-country reporting should be introduced to reduce the outflow of illicit financial flows in developing countries;
  • International trade should not cause further environmental damage, since many developing countries are already facing the consequences of climate change;
  • The needs of the ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific) countries should be better reflected in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the General System of Preferences (GSP). The Contonou Agreement should also be used to promote human rights;
  • The national parliaments of the third country conducting negotiations with EU, should be involved to promote democratisation.

What can be said about this long list, is that these are indeed important standards that would put the focus on development, while trading with third countries. Yet, like in any parliament, the different political groups do not always agree. On behalf of the Greens, Judith Sargentini amended this opinion nine times. Some points made it into the opinion, like the fact that there should be more legal rights to protect human rights in both states and companies. Other amendments, like a legal basis for CSR, were not added to the opinion.

Next to the Development Committee, amendments were also made in the International Trade Committee on the draft report. Fair Politics would like to mention two members of this Committee. First Joe Higgins (GUE/NGL) pointed out that the human rights and sustainable development chapters in trade agreements should be binding in character, this would enhance the legal basis of these topics. Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL) draws attention to implementation of labour and environmental standards. This is important to make these chapters of the agreements more than words only, and actually improve the lives of people. 

Fair Politics welcomes the fact that these Committees pointed out all of these different issues related to international trade agreements, that do influence development. This is a good example of how PCD within European Policies would improve the lives of people in development countries. The Development Committee already mentioned the legal basis for PCD in their opinion. Fair Politics would like to remind policy-makers that the EU has committed itself to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If these standards were part of every trade agreement and effectively implemented, the chances of attaining the MDGs by 2015 would greatly increase.

For their concerns expressed on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements, Fair Politics recognises Filip Kaczmarek (EPP), Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA), Joe Higgins (GUE/NGL), and Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL) as Fair Politicians. For this contribution to the debate in the European Parliament by writing the opinion, Kaczmarek earns two points in our monitoring system. Sargentini, Higgins, and Scholz are all rewarded with one point for the amendments made. 

Monitor fair: EPP(2), Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL(2)