Activities of Alessia Maria MOSCA related to 2018/2107(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of the GSP Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 PDF (226 KB) DOC (82 KB)
Amendments (38)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 b (new)
Citation 7 b (new)
– having regard to Article 5 of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU),
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 c (new)
Citation 7 c (new)
– having regard to Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union(TFEU),
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 c (new)
Citation 7 c (new)
– having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘Trade for all: Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy’ (COM(2015)0497),
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 d (new)
Citation 7 d (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 27 April 2017 on the EU flagship initiative on the garment sector1a, __________________ 1a Texts adopted, P8_TA(2017)0196.
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 e (new)
Citation 7 e (new)
– having regard to its Resolution of 14 June 2017 on the state of play of the implementation of the Sustainability Compact in Bangladesh2a, __________________ 2a Texts adopted, P8_TA(2017)0265.
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 g (new)
Citation 7 g (new)
– having regard to voluntary country-specific partnerships, such as the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact and the Myanmar Labour Rights Initiative,
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 h (new)
Citation 7 h (new)
– having regard to the 2007 joint strategy of the EU and its Member States entitled ‘Aid for trade: Enhancing EU support for trade-related needs in developing countries’,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 j (new)
Citation 7 j (new)
– having regard to the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals,
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 l (new)
Citation 7 l (new)
– having regard to the fundamental ILO Conventions on child labour, forced labour, discrimination, and freedom of association and collective bargaining,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 n (new)
Citation 7 n (new)
– having regard to the Council conclusions of 12 May 2016 on the EU and responsible global value chains,
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 o (new)
Citation 7 o (new)
– having regard to the report of the Committee on International Trade the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Development and the position in the form of amendments of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A8-0269/2017),
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 p (new)
Citation 7 p (new)
– having regard to the International Criminal Court Decision on the “Prosecution’s Request fora Ruling on Jurisdiction under Article 19(3) of the Statute” ICC-RoC46(3)-01/18-37
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)stipulates that the EU’s trade policy must be built on the principles and objectives of EU external policy; whereas Article 208 of the TFEU establishes the principle of policy coherence for development and sets the eradication of poverty as the main objective; whereas the Commission’s Trade for All communication bases EU trade policy on three key principles – effectiveness, transparency and values;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas Article 21 TEU provides that (i) the EU's action on the international scene must be guided, inter alia, by the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the respect for human dignity; and (ii) that the EU must define and pursue common policies and actions so as to, inter alia, support human rights;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the Ombudsman made clear that (i) good administration necessarily requires observance and respect of fundamental rights; (ii) there cannot be good administration where fundamental rights are not respected; and (iii) the European Commission must accordingly always consider whether its actions both comply with fundamental rights and result in furthering the cause of human rights in third countries;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas the GSP Regulation requires that the European Commission take account of "all available information" in determining whether GSP beneficiary countries duly comply with their human rights obligations, including information provided by civil society; whereas in lack of an independent and formal complaints mechanism it cannot be guaranteed that the European Commission duly complies with its obligation to take account of "all available information";
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas several international conventions, guidelines and rules aim to prevent human rights abuses; whereas GSP beneficiary countries in particular have the obligation to implement them and to create the appropriate legal and economic conditions under which businesses can operate and find a place in global supply chains; whereas GSP beneficiary countries must also be able to implement international standards and norms, including drawing up, implementing and enforcing appropriate legislation, particularly in the area of establishing the rule of law and combating corruption;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the EU should respond even more effectively to social and environmental dumping and unfair competition and trade practices, and ensure a level playing field;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas the particular situation of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) is such that in some countries they are exempt from local labour laws and forbid or limit union activity, and that workers have no recourse to legal redress there, which constitutes a clear violation of ILO standards; whereas corruption and exemptions from labour laws and taxation in EPZs could have a negative impact on human rights, in particular by undermining decent work and trade unions;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E d (new)
Recital E d (new)
Ed. whereas gender equality in all EU policies is firmly established in Article 8 of the TFEU; whereas trade and investment agreements tend to affect women and men differently on account of structural gender inequalities; whereas according to the ILO, in 2012 21 million people worldwide, of whom 55 % were women and girls, were the victims of forced labour, with 90 % of these were exploited in the private economy by individuals or enterprises;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E e (new)
Recital E e (new)
Ee. whereas the involvement of civil society and social partners in the implementation of the GSP scheme can enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Common Commercial Policy;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E f (new)
Recital E f (new)
Ef. whereas since 1 July 2016, around 12 000 people, including women and children, have, reportedly, been killed in the Philippines during an ongoing campaign against drugs, internationally proclaimed as President Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’; whereas President Duterte has vowed to continue his anti-drug campaign until the end of his presidential term in 2022; whereas the EU remains deeply concerned about the high number of killings associated with the campaign against illegal drugs in the Philippines and about the clear violation of commitments undertaken in the framework of the GSP programme;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E g (new)
Recital E g (new)
Eg. whereas, according to various reports, hundreds of garment workers have died in various factory fires in Bangladesh since 2006,for which regrettably the numerous culpable factory owners and managers have never been brought to justice; whereas it is estimated that every year some 11700 workers are killed in fatal accidents and another 24 500 die from work-related diseases, across all sectors in the country; whereas in different occasions the Government has announced its endeavours to apply for the GSP+ programme;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E h (new)
Recital E h (new)
Eh. whereas Pakistan had a moratorium on the death penalty in place until 2015, but reinstated it in the wake of the massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014; whereas the moratorium was lifted initially only for terrorist activities, but was subsequently extended to all capital offences; whereas in its recent review of Pakistan’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee raised concerns about restrictions on INGOs in the country and called for a review of the policy for regulation of INGOs in Pakistan, in particular its vague language regarding cancellation of INGO registration;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E i (new)
Recital E i (new)
Ei. whereas Sri Lanka has committed to reform the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and the Code of Criminal Procedures Act, and to implement the Convention against Torture in the framework of the GSP+ regime; whereas the country has fallen short of its commitments;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E j (new)
Recital E j (new)
Ej. whereas trade unionists, human rights activists and civil society organizations are operating in an increasingly restricted space in Cambodia and face harassment, acts of intimidation and arbitrary arrest; whereas the 2015 amended Law on Association and Non- Governmental Organizations (LANGO) severely restricts freedom of association and expression, including by establishing government control and censorship over the work of NGOs; whereas the Trade Union Law restricts freedom of association and creates unnecessary obstacles and burdens in relation to registration procedures and the operations of trade unions;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E k (new)
Recital E k (new)
Ek. whereas the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described the circumstances surrounding the mass exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya people from Myanmar as a “text book example of ethnic cleansing”;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E l (new)
Recital E l (new)
El. whereas the European Commission is in the process of launching investigations on human rights abuses within the framework of potential withdrawals of Myanmar and Cambodia from the Everything But Arms arrangements;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E m (new)
Recital E m (new)
Em. whereas the GSP trade preferences are enshrined in the EU’s principle of promoting fair and free trade, and, therefore, allow the EU to suspend GSP benefits in the most serious cases of human rights violations on the basis of Chapter V, Article 19(1)(a) of the GSP regulation, which stipulates that preferential treatment may be withdrawn temporarily on a number of grounds, including serious and systematic violation of the principles laid down in the conventions listed in Part A of Annex VIII, among them the ILO’s eight fundamental conventions;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls that the full potential of the GSP+ scheme to improve the situation with regards to workers’ rights, promotion of gender equality, and abolition of child and forced labour can only be fulfilled if monitoring of effective implementation of obligations under the 27 conventions is improved, and the incentive of trade preferences is accompanied by other support measures;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises that, overall, the GSP scheme appears to have created incentives for ratifying international conventions and has therefore created a better framework for progress; stresses the importance of measures to ensure that GSP enhances positive environmental development; nevertheless considers these achievements to be too limited and insufficient; stresses that much has to be done in beneficiary countries to achieve a sustainable development model;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Emphasises that acts of secondary EU law must be both designed and interpreted in line with primary EU law and general principles of EU law; thus calls for a reform of the GSP Regulation that would lead to bind the European Commission to withdraw GSP treatment from third countries that fail to adequately address established violations of human rights within their jurisdiction;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the Commission to lay down specific objectives and benchmarks with regard to the effective implementation of international conventions and systematically include these in the human rights country strategy papers with a view to ensuring consistency and mainstreaming human rights into trade policy;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Encourages the establishment of an independent and formal complaints mechanism related to the effective implementation of obligations under international conventions under GSP+, in order to take into account all available information, including from reliable local stakeholders;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Suggests that the future reform of GSP+ should take into consideration a progressive phase out of tariffs based on the achievements of the beneficiary country in terms of sustainable development; emphasises the conditionality of trade preferences to improvements on social and environmental protection;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Takes noteSupports the launch of the first safeguard investigation under the regulation and considers that this clause should ensure that the EU’s financial and economic interests are protected while being able to offer preferences for sensitive product; stresses that if trade preferences are not followed by reforms and the implementation of international conventions, the GSP programmes could potentially lead to increased levels of environmental and social dumping; calls on the Commission to assess the programmes’ effects on Union industry and workers;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Highlights that the GSP has made the corporate sector more dynamic, resulting in an increased number of women in the labour force in the industries of the export countries that trade with the EU; notes however that despite some limited improvements women continue to be discriminated and is concerned in particular for the condition of women in the Ready Made Garment (RMG) sector; in this regard deems regrettable that the Commission has not followed up the European Parliament resolution on the European Garment Initiative;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the effect that the GSP has had on private corporations’ initiatives to adopt cleaner and safer technologies, and the direct positive impact thereof on workers and the environment; takes the view that measures to further encourage this development should be planned; nevertheless considers voluntary schemes to be ineffective; re-calls its various initiatives aiming at the establishing due- diligence obligations on European importers;