Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Opinion | DEVE |
Legal Basis RoP 132
Activites
-
1998/05/04
Final act published in Official Journal
-
1998/04/01
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
-
T4-0198/1998
summary
Adopting the report by Mrs Inger SCHÖRLING (Green, S) on the follow-up to the World Summit for social development, Parliament expresses its concern over delays in the formulation of an overall and unambiguous strategy for social development. It calls on the Member States to implement the conclusions of all the major international conferences (Rio, Vienna, Cairo, Beijing and Istanbul) and asks the Council to take concrete measures to reduce greenhouse gases in the EU by 15% by the year 2010. With regard to priorities at EU level, Parliament considers the fight against poverty and social exclusion to be a top priority and calls for an effective policy in this area, in view of the new Treaty of Amsterdam. It calls on the Council to adopt the fourth programme to combat poverty as soon as possible. The other priority for the Union is to combat unemployment. Parliament therefore calls on the Commission to submit specific proposals for tax and welfare systems which will be more effective in promoting employment. It also calls on the Member States to draw up employment action plans to cut the unemployment rate and strongly to support the social economy sector. Dialogue with NGOs operating in the social field and other representative organizations in this sector should be encouraged. With regard to priorities at the international level, Parliament invites the Commission and the Member States to make greater efforts in strengthening cooperation with the ILO, the World Bank, the UN specialized agencies, the IMF and the WTO. It calls upon all countries to work on a programme for debt reduction for the poorest countries and proposes in particular that the Member States allocate on average 20% of their development aid funds to basic social programmes. The recipient countries should equally allocate 20% of their budgets in support of basic social services (education, primary health care, nutrition programmes and safe drinking water and sanitation). The plenary, however, did not incorporate a proposal by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs to introduce a global tax on international currency speculation. This paragraph suggested that a 5% tax on exchange operations could raise $ 1500 billion a year to go into a 'global fund for human security', thus making it possible to reduce the debts of the poorest countries. Parliament hopes that EU official development aid will reach 0.7% of GDP. It calls on all countries to actively enforce the ILO Conventions on basic labour standards, freedom of association and collective bargaining, prohibition of forced labour and slavery and other fundamental conventions. It calls on the Commission and the Member States to actively enforce social and ethical regulations in international trade and to support initiatives such as 'Social Accountability 8000', a world-wide standard for ethical control based on the UN and ILO Conventions. �
-
T4-0198/1998
summary
-
1998/03/31
Debate in Parliament
- 1998/03/19 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
-
1997/04/07
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
-
1997/02/14
Non-legislative basic document published
-
COM(1996)0724
summary
OBJECTIVE: to define, in line with the priorities defended by the European Union at the World Summit on Social Development, a limited number of areas on which the Union could focus action in social matters, to meet the commitments made in Copenhagen in 1994. SUBSTANCE: among the themes referred to in the documents adopted in Copenhagen, 5 areas are to be given special attention by the Community and are covered by proposals for action guidelines and specific initiatives: - the international institutional environment: the Commission considers that closer cooperation is required with the ILO and other international institutions in order to discuss the impact of globalization of the economy, the interdependence of national policies, employment and respect for labour standards (in particular, IMF, World Bank and WTO); - basic social rights and promotion of economic and social development in bilateral agreements: given that the Community bases its external relations as a whole on respect for human rights and democracy, including economic, cultural and social rights, the Commission is proposing that dialogue with developing countries should cover these matters and, in particular, employment and respect for workers' basic rights. Opportunities for social cooperation should be envisaged with a view to promoting employment, health, education, etc.; fostering dialogue between governments and the social partners on issues relating to employment; implementing ILO conventions. The Commission also proposes, in line with the Summit's action programme, to allocate at least 20% of Community development aid to basic social programmes; - the fight against poverty: the idea would be that the fight against poverty would be routinely taken into account in the Community's relations with developing countries, using objective indicators. Alongside this, measures would be taken within the Community to reduce exclusion (in particular, under the European Social Fund and the Community 'employment' initiative); - priority to be given to employment in economic and social policies: given that the European Union has made employment its top priority (especially in the strategy put forward at Essen and the Confidence Pact), the Commission proposes comparing the ideas which have emerged from its contact with the social partners with those of the ILO and OECD by holding regular discussions; - respect and protection for immigrants and the fight against racism and xenophobia: the Commission plans to submit a recommendation encouraging Member States to ratify the United Nations' Convention on improving the lot of migrant workers and their families and to submit a recommendation calling on Member States to make it easier for residents from third countries legally domiciled in a Member State to find employment in another Member State (not possible at present). It also proposed that 1997 be designated as the 'European Year against Racism'. In addition, the Community intends to foster the involvement of civil society in the achievement of society's objectives. In this context, the Commission will hold a European forum to discuss social policy, bringing together as many relevant bodies as possible. Finally, it hopes to be able to hold expert meetings in 1997 and 1999 to examine how the Copenhagen action programme is being implemented, with a view to preparing the special session of the general assembly planned for 2000. �
-
COM(1996)0724
summary
Documents
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0724
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0105/1998
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0198/1998
History
(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)
activities |
|
committees/0 |
|
committees/0 |
|
docs |
|
events |
|
links |
|
other |
|
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee |
Old
EMPL/4/08679New
|
procedure/legal_basis/0 |
Rules of Procedure EP 132
|
procedure/legal_basis/0 |
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 132
|
procedure/subject |
Old
New
|
activities |
|
committees |
|
links |
|
other |
|
procedure |
|