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BackThe coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty does significantly upgrade the role of the European Parliament (EP) in Trade Policy. This concerns both the information rights of the EP and its codecision competence. Hence, the Parliament will in future play a significant role in international relationships, provided these have a trade policy component. Thus, the political groups of the EP are getting the opportunity of raising their profile and to demand that labour and environmental minimum standards become the touchstone in the planned chapters on Sustainable Development for concluding trade agreements.
Among other things, AK asks for:<br /><ul> <li>Compliance with all eight ILO Core Labour Standards (the abolition of child labour, the elimination of forced labour, the right to organize and to negotiate collective agreements, the ban of discrimination).</li> <li>Dispute settlement procedures must also apply to the Sustainability Chapter.</li> <li>The exchange of information between governments and social partners must be enabled as well as reactions of governments to complaints of social partners ensured.</li> <li>Independent experts of ILO shall assess complaints.</li> <li> The continuous breach of minimum labour standards must be avoided by imposing monetary fines.</li></ul>
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Éva Dessewffy
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Lukas Oberndorfer
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