The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-intitiative report drafted by Mihael BREJC (EPP-ED, SI) on the social dimension of globalisation (Please refer to the summary of 05/10/2005.) Parliament stated that although globalisation has many positive aspects, the process of globalisation is generating major economic and social imbalances both within and between countries, which is a matter of intense social concern, given the high unemployment and poverty afflicting large sections of society throughout the world. Globalisation increases the gulf between rich and poor. The economy is becoming increasingly global and politicised, and regulatory institutions remain largely national or regional, and none of the existing institutions provides democratic monitoring of global markets or redresses basic inequalities between countries.

Parliament felt that globalisation must be a process with a strong social dimension based on universally shared values, respect for human rights and individual dignity, and must be fair, inclusive and democratically governed, provide opportunities and tangible benefits for all countries and people, and be linked to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The EU can make a significant contribution to this process through both its internal and external policies, through its social model and its development at international level and through the encouragement of global cooperation based on mutual respect, constructive dialogue and recognition of our common destiny.

Globalisation should mean not just that the EU can sell more outside Europe, but that third world countries should be enabled to sell more to the EU in order to boost their growth, employment and social inclusion levels. The Common Agricultural Policy will need to be reformed if this aspect of globalisation is to be delivered and if the "Make Poverty History" campaign is to enjoy success.

Parliament called for social rights and social dialogue, human rights and the primacy of law, and the protection of the rights of the child, in particular the right to education, to be accorded greater importance in the EU's various external programmes. The Commission must ensure, through bilateral agreements, that the Core Labour Standards are respected, in order to ensure humane working conditions and avoid abuse of women and children in the countries concerned.

The Union should use its bilateral relations to promote the recommendations of the WCSDG so that jobs which are moved off-shore or relocated outside the EU do not end up being performed in sweat shops in the third world, but, instead, jobs of high quality are created which help to improve the lives of workers and their families in the countries concerned. The Commission is asked to review all its existing bilateral agreements, particularly Economic Partnership Agreements and Fisheries Partnership Agreements, to ensure that they are fully consonant with the MDGs and the principle of sustainable development.

Parliament welcomed the Commission's proposal that the Commission, the Council and the Member States seek to attain observer status for the ILO at the WTO with a view to improving the quality of interinstitutional dialogue. Decent work in line with the ILO's Decent Work Agenda should be made a priority issue at national, EU and global level.

Parliament went on to state that the EU's partnerships should incorporate a social pillar, covering, among other things, labour standards. It expected the Commission to use EU funds in order to overcome negative results and open new perspectives for the more sensitive regions and industrial sectors and weaker groups of employees. The Commission must also take adequate measures to stop companies relocating for the sole reason of obtaining structural or other funds and demands a systematic review of whether long-term objectives in the distribution of such funds are being met.

Furthermore, the social dimension of globalisation argues for a reform of the WTO regime. WTO agreements must be evaluated in the light of their economic, social and environmental impact, and the 'necessity' tests in the Technical Barriers to Trade and other Agreements need to be replaced by 'sustainability' tests.

Parliament agreed with the Commission that the private sector and private initiatives, the formation and mobilisation of joint interest groups and global measures by various social bodies (for example NGOs) can make an important contribution to promoting good social governance. It welcomed the Commission's support for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises which set benchmarks for responsible business conduct. The social and environmental responsibilities of multinationals should be clearly established, and EU action in this area should be stepped up.

Parliament invited the Commission to put forward a proposal on social labelling, based on criteria such as compliance with human and trades union rights, the working environment, training and development of employees, equal treatment and social and ethical consideration for employees and citizens in the surrounding community.

Finally, Parliament looked at migration policies, which are increasingly designed to meet the needs of domestic labour markets. It insisted that migration policies must be based on the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The committee adopted the own-initiative report drawn up by Mihael BREJC (EPP-ED, SI) in response to the Commission communication on the social dimension of globalisation. It said that the EU could make a significant contribution to achieving a process of globalisation with a strong social dimension "based on universally shared values, respect for human rights and individual dignity, which is fair, inclusive and democratically governed, provides opportunities and tangible benefits for all countries and people and is linked to the Millennium Development Goals". It called for the Commission to come forward with concrete proposals for internal and external EU policies in this field, and highlighted a series of measures which should be taken:

- social rights, social dialogue and human rights should be given greater importance in the EU's various external programmes;

- the EU's partnerships should include a social pillar covering among other things labour standards;

- through bilateral agreements the Commission should ensure that, at the least, ILO (International Labour Organisation) standards are respected in order to ensure humane working conditions;

- the Commission, the Council and the Member States should work towards making the ILO standards binding on the members of the WTO;

- the EU should use its bilateral relations to ensure that jobs which are moved off -shore or relocated outside the EU do not end up being performed in sweat shops in the third world but instead, that jobs of high quality are created.

Finally, MEPs noted that efforts to raise awareness among multinational companies of their social responsibility had as yet had little effect. They therefore called on the Commission to present proposals on how to enhance the compulsory nature of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and prevent companies who make no efforts in this direction from benefiting from the efforts of others.

PURPOSE: presentation of a Communication on the social dimension of globalization – the EU’s policy contribution on extending the benefits to all.

CONTENT: The process of globalisation has brought significant benefits to many people across the world. Higher quality – and higher earning – jobs have been created in parts of the world which have previously relied largely on agriculture to maintain their people.

While these positive aspects of globalisation are recognised by the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation ( WCSDG ) published in February 2004, it also notes that the benefits of globalisation are not shared equally across all countries and groups and that, without an effective system of global governance, the current model of globalisation is generating unbalanced outcomes and is not likely to lead to global sustainable development.

The EU has long pursued policies, both at home and internationally, which seek to ensure that economic and social progress go hand in hand. In particular in Lisbon in 2000, the Heads of State and Government agreed an integrated strategy for reforms which is intended to lead to Europe becoming the most competitive knowledge based society in the world, with more and better jobs and increased social cohesion, by promoting mutually reinforcing policies to address the needs of competitiveness, employment, social progress and environmental sustainability. This strategy is also the basis for the EU's policy response to the impact of globalisation on businesses, jobs and citizens in Europe.

The EU's economic and social model, and the Lisbon strategy which translates it into practice, cannot simply be transposed to other parts of the world. Nevertheless, the WCSDG has highlighted a number of aspects of the model which may be of interest to the Union's partners. This is especially true of the processes involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies which are essential to the achievement of the balance between economic and social objectives. The EU model places particular emphasis, for example, on solid institutional structures for the management of economic, employment, social and environmental issues and the interplay between them, on strong social and civil dialogue and on investment in human capital and the quality of employment.

The EU must also ensure that it exercises its external policies in a way which contributes to maximising the benefits of globalisation for all social groups in all its partner countries and regions. Its external policies have always had an important social dimension, for example in supporting universal access to basic social services in the developing world. For some time, the EU has also been promoting the effectiveness and coherence of global governance, including economic governance, through international institutions, to ensure that trade policy and bilateral relations with regions and individual countries are fully supportive of social development and to ensure that development and external co-operation contributes to maximise positive and minimise negative social consequences of globalisation. It also encourages the private sector to contribute to these objectives.

This Communication briefly describes the current range of actions undertaken in the framework of the Union regarding the social dimension of globalisation and makes proposals for certain changes. It is intended to be a first contribution to the debate which has been started by the publication of the WCSDG's report and in particular to the discussion on the follow-up to be held at the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June 2004. The Commission believes that some of WCSDG’s proposals should also be discussed in other fora which have responsibility for financial, economic and trade issues.

In this communication the Commission sets out its initial views on some of the issues raised in the report of the WCSDG . Overall the report delivers balanced, critical but positive messages that can be the basis for future action. It recognises that some steps have already been taken at global, regional and national levels but it makes it very clear that much more should be done at all levels in a complementary and mutually reinforcing way to extend the benefits of globalisation to all. This is a challenge to both the EU and its Member States. The effective follow-up of the report, by all partners, will be of key importance.

The EU has already developed initiatives and policies to address the social dimension of globalisation both in Europe and elsewhere. It is now important that the Union, at the highest political level, expresses its commitment to taking action to strengthen this dimension in the light of the WCSDG's report and the initial proposals made in this Communication.

PURPOSE: presentation of a Communication on the social dimension of globalization – the EU’s policy contribution on extending the benefits to all.

CONTENT: The process of globalisation has brought significant benefits to many people across the world. Higher quality – and higher earning – jobs have been created in parts of the world which have previously relied largely on agriculture to maintain their people.

While these positive aspects of globalisation are recognised by the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation ( WCSDG ) published in February 2004, it also notes that the benefits of globalisation are not shared equally across all countries and groups and that, without an effective system of global governance, the current model of globalisation is generating unbalanced outcomes and is not likely to lead to global sustainable development.

The EU has long pursued policies, both at home and internationally, which seek to ensure that economic and social progress go hand in hand. In particular in Lisbon in 2000, the Heads of State and Government agreed an integrated strategy for reforms which is intended to lead to Europe becoming the most competitive knowledge based society in the world, with more and better jobs and increased social cohesion, by promoting mutually reinforcing policies to address the needs of competitiveness, employment, social progress and environmental sustainability. This strategy is also the basis for the EU's policy response to the impact of globalisation on businesses, jobs and citizens in Europe.

The EU's economic and social model, and the Lisbon strategy which translates it into practice, cannot simply be transposed to other parts of the world. Nevertheless, the WCSDG has highlighted a number of aspects of the model which may be of interest to the Union's partners. This is especially true of the processes involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of policies which are essential to the achievement of the balance between economic and social objectives. The EU model places particular emphasis, for example, on solid institutional structures for the management of economic, employment, social and environmental issues and the interplay between them, on strong social and civil dialogue and on investment in human capital and the quality of employment.

The EU must also ensure that it exercises its external policies in a way which contributes to maximising the benefits of globalisation for all social groups in all its partner countries and regions. Its external policies have always had an important social dimension, for example in supporting universal access to basic social services in the developing world. For some time, the EU has also been promoting the effectiveness and coherence of global governance, including economic governance, through international institutions, to ensure that trade policy and bilateral relations with regions and individual countries are fully supportive of social development and to ensure that development and external co-operation contributes to maximise positive and minimise negative social consequences of globalisation. It also encourages the private sector to contribute to these objectives.

This Communication briefly describes the current range of actions undertaken in the framework of the Union regarding the social dimension of globalisation and makes proposals for certain changes. It is intended to be a first contribution to the debate which has been started by the publication of the WCSDG's report and in particular to the discussion on the follow-up to be held at the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June 2004. The Commission believes that some of WCSDG’s proposals should also be discussed in other fora which have responsibility for financial, economic and trade issues.

In this communication the Commission sets out its initial views on some of the issues raised in the report of the WCSDG . Overall the report delivers balanced, critical but positive messages that can be the basis for future action. It recognises that some steps have already been taken at global, regional and national levels but it makes it very clear that much more should be done at all levels in a complementary and mutually reinforcing way to extend the benefits of globalisation to all. This is a challenge to both the EU and its Member States. The effective follow-up of the report, by all partners, will be of key importance.

The EU has already developed initiatives and policies to address the social dimension of globalisation both in Europe and elsewhere. It is now important that the Union, at the highest political level, expresses its commitment to taking action to strengthen this dimension in the light of the WCSDG's report and the initial proposals made in this Communication.