Eurostep WeeklyRegular News Update from Eurostep, N° 508 19 May 2008 Lisbon Treaty's ‘European External Action Service' raises questions The Lisbon Treaty, which will come in to effect on 1 January 2009, provided that it is ratified by all 27 Member States, contains a brief and vague proposal for the establishment of a 'European External Action Service' (EEAS) to aid the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has publicly admitted that "none of us yet know how exactly this (EEAS) will work out in practice", and many are concerned that this major change to the EU set-up will be introduced with little transparency or democratic consultation. On 6 May, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee put forward a draft report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy which called on the Council and the Commission to allow greater participation from Parliament over the setting up of the EEAS. The author of the report, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, said of the preparations for the EEAS: "there is work going on, but not much has been publicly stated". "We [MEPs] expect to be involved in shaping these decisions ex ante, and not only post factum," he added. Among the many questions yet to be resolved is whether a unified EU diplomatic service will be created with embassies worldwide, replacing the EU's existing arrangements for diplomatic representation. This would be strongly opposed by some Member States; UK MEP Charles Tannock recently stated that "Britain would not accept full diplomatic trappings for the EU". The establishment of an the EEAS will be on the agenda of the Brussels EU summit on June 19-20, but, according to Benita Ferrero-Waldner, final proposals for the EEAS will only emerge in 2010. Sources: Oxfam international launches report on the EC's ‘MDG contract' Oxfam International has published a new briefing paper entitled "Fast forward: How the European Commission can take the lead in providing high-quality budget support for education and health", which calls on EU Member States to support the European Commission's new proposals for delivering more long-term and predictable aid to developing countries via the ‘MDG contract'. MDG contracting is a type of general budget support proposed by the Commission which provides aid directly to developing country governments over a long-term period, so that countries have the resources to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The paper will be presented at a second high-level meeting on MDG contracting at which Oxfam hopes to promote discussion with relevant stakeholders, including southern governments and NGOs, EU Member States and EC staff, on the Commission's new MDG contract proposal which is scheduled to be discussed by Member States in June. Oxfam's paper reports that there is "strong evidence that general budget support is helping developing country governments to increase their citizens' access to health care and education", and praises the EC's efforts in this direction. However, the report also calls on the Commission to "do more to improve on this good start", by "delinking this aid from harmful International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescriptions, putting an end to unnecessary bureaucratic delays, and doing more to make its aid accountable to citizens in poor countries." Sources:
Roundtable on child labour and corporate social responsibility outlines recommendations for EU
A roundtable meeting organised by the Alliance2015 campaign "Stop Child Labour - School is the best place to work" took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday 13 May. The keynote speakers were Dutch Labour MEP Thijs Berman and UK Labour MEP Richard Howitt. The roundtable discussed concrete public policies, including regulatory measures, to be introduced by the European Union and its Member States to eradicate child labour in the framework of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The European Parliament has frequently called on the European Commission and its Member States to adopt regulatory measures to curb child labour and other labour rights violations. These proposals have also come from civil society, including unions, NGOs and a number of companies. There is a stalemate at present regarding the need to adopt regulation with respect to those elements of CSR that are directly linked to international law and national legislation, such as on child labour. The roundtable agreed that one should therefore ‘unpack' corporate social responsibility again and determine that internationally agreed norms can not be left to ‘the market' or the individual company to decide. Several recommendations for the EU were presented at the roundtable, including: that plans to monitor and remediate child labour be included in EU agreements with developing countries where this practice is widespread; that the EU work towards mandatory reporting and the right to know on child labour; that appropriate legal safeguards are created to prosecute EU-based companies who violate child labour rights; and that any support given by the European Commission and its Member States to companies is combined with the obligation that no child labour is used in the company or the supply chain. Source: MEP Glenys Kinnock: The MDGS are not a lost cause In an interview last week, UK Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock claimed not to be pessimistic about prospect of the MDGs being achieved, but criticised Member States for not keeping their promises on aid. Kinnock, who is a member of Parliament's Committee on Development, said: "No, I don't believe the MDGs are a lost cause. What we need to see now is that the Member States of the European Union fulfil the promises they made at Gleneagles. What we have seen last year, of course, is that they inflated their aid levels by including debt relief to Iraq and Nigeria. This year they don't have the opportunity to do that so you've seen that there are some countries that are a major concern: Portugal, especially since they hosted the EU-Africa summit (in December); France had made a very strong commitment when (President Jacques) Chirac was there." "I think we need to name and shame those countries who are not fulfilling what was a strong commitment because we are talking about life and death here," she added. She also acknowledged that the world food crisis complicates the situation "massively", and added: "When you consider how many acres of land in the U.S. and across Europe will be going to producing crops for biofuels, it is just simply unacceptable. It is grotesque." On the EU's Economic Partnership Agreements with ACP countries, the MEP stated that she was "not against EPAs" but that "the pace of the negotiations has been extremely fast and pressured" and "we have no choice but to negotiate a new way of working". Source: Extraordinary GAERC meeting on Burma/Myanmar The General Affairs and External Relations Council held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday 13 May to assess the humanitarian situation in Burma/Myanmar following the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. The Council welcomed the efforts of Member States, the Commission, NGOs and the UN in providing funds and assistance and appealed to the Burmese authorities to offer free and unfettered access to international humanitarian experts. It also discussed the recent earthquake in China. The Council warned that "without the co-operation of the authorities in Burma/Myanmar, an even greater tragedy is threatened," and urged the regime to act quickly to deliver visas and travel permits to international humanitarian experts. The GAERC further welcomed the initiative of Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel to travel to Burma/Myanmar "to seek progress from the competent Burmese authorities in order to ensure access of humanitarian aid workers to the country and to the affected areas". On the earthquake in China, the Council expressed its "heartfelt sympathies" to those effected by the catastrophe, and stated that the EU, "noting China's readiness to welcome foreign assistance, stands ready to provide it as soon as conditions on the ground permit it." Sources: West Papuan delegation reports threats to human rights and the environment Last week a civil society delegation from West Papua, Indonesia, visited Brussels to meet with NGOs and representatives of the EU institutions. The delegation, which consisted of members of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission and the Protestant Church, attended a parliamentary briefing on Thursday 15 May as well as bilateral meetings with representatives from the European institutions and civil society throughout the week. The delegates called attention to the environmental threat posed by biofuels production and to continuous violations of the human, social and economic rights of the indigenous population of West Papua. The Indonesian government granted Special Autonomy to West Papua in 2001, but the delegation was critical of how this had been implemented, arguing that the associated funds had been used to benefit an immigrant elite rather than to genuinely devolve power to the population. The delegation drew attention to the exploitation of natural resources, especially forests, minerals and palm oil, under the auspices of the police and military, who are granted impunity by the legal system. Political activists and human rights defenders in the region are constantly threatened by repression and torture. The delegation called on European NGOs and the EU institutions to recognise and address the conflict in West Papua. They urged the EU to facilitate dialogue with the Indonesian government on human rights and governance and to increase the efficiency of the support programmes for the security sector reform as well as for the social infrastructure. They also stressed the need for clear production guidelines on palm oil imports to European markets and for the development of funding mechanisms to preserve biodiversity. For further details see:
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