Activities of Paul MURPHY related to 2013/2989(RSP)
Plenary speeches (1)
EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement negotiations
Amendments (14)
Amendment 5 #
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the garment and textile industry does not only constitute Vietnam´s largest single source of formal sector employment with a direct labour force of more than two million workers but is also its largest export sector; whereas the electronics assembly sector, another leading export manufacturing sector, employs approximately 120,000 workers;
Amendment 6 #
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas Vietnam has so far only ratified 5 of the 8 core ILO conventions; whereas it has not ratified ILO convention No 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, No 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining and No 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour; whereas all core ILO conventions are reported to be regularly violated, particularly in the Special Economic Zones;
Amendment 7 #
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas forced and child labour, including forced trafficking of minors from rural areas into urban centres, have been reported to be a regular occurrence in Vietnam´s garment industry; whereas this goes largely unchecked and is aggravated due to the government of Vietnam´s severe restrictions vis-à-vis the right of civil society in general and trade unions in particular to organise;
Amendment 13 #
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the on-goIs opposed to the on-going FTA negotiations since the protection and advance of social, environmental and labour standards are clearly not at the heart of the negotiating progrcess in the FTA negotiations andand negotiations lack transparency due to the lack of meaningful involvement of civil society stakeholders and trade unions in particular and will therefore not be in the interest of workers and poor farmers in both the EU and Vietnam; notes the Commission's regular debriefing with the European Parliament (hereafter EP) on their state of play; reminds that the consent of the EP to the FTA is mandatory8 , and that the Commission and the Council should not propose any provisional application of the FTA before the EP has given its consent; __________________ 8 Article 218(6)(a)(v) of the TFEU. Article 218(6)(a)(v) of the TFEU.
Amendment 14 #
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Is of the strong opinion that respect for workers´ and trade union rights must be a key feature in all trade agreements the EU signs with third countries; insists therefore that the ratification and subsequent implementation of all ILO core conventions, particularly Convention No 87 and No 98, must be a prerequisite for continuing the negotiations for a possible free trade agreement between the EU and Vietnam; calls on the Vietnamese government to live up to all its obligations under the core ILO conventions it has ratified and to ratify and implement the outstanding core conventions without further delay; reiterates that workers´ and trade union rights must be universal and applied to all workers, including those in the Special Economic Zones;
Amendment 15 #
Paragraph 2
Amendment 17 #
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Is appalled by past statements made by the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam, threatening to withdraw European investment in the country if minimum wages are raised, notes that similar statements have been made by the Foreign Business Association in Vietnam in relation to environmental regulations and labour regulations that would improve working conditions; is of the opinion that all workers, including women and migrant workers and those working in the Special Economic Zones, must be entitled to receive at least the legal minimum wage; insists that European companies operating in Vietnam should by no means attempt to undermine increases in the legal minimum wage;
Amendment 18 #
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on the European Council and Commission to introduce mandatory and enforceable provisions on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), based on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN guiding principles on business and human rights as well as on the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and Reporting, into a possible future FTA with Vietnam; calls on the Commission to establish an effective monitoring scheme with regard to Corporate Social Responsibility that involves trade unions and other civil society stakeholders;
Amendment 26 #
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Emphasizes the importance of promoting a strong public sector; insists to refrain from further liberalisation and privatisation of the public sector, in particular with regard to essential public utilities, such as water, water distribution, health, public transport and waste collection as those have been proven to have adverse effects on employees and users of public services; believes therefore that the public procurement sector in Vietnam should not be subject to further liberalisation but be used as a means to support sustainable development, requiring transparency and democratic control of the public procurement sector;
Amendment 31 #
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the EU and Vietnam to agree in the FTA on a fair and equitable treatment of all investors and services providers in the banking, insurance, legal, accounting, transport and retail sector services; recalls that as regards financial services, it is also essential to ensure adequate supervision thereof to reduce systemic risk, fight money laundering and provide the highest possible level of consumer protection as well as to enforce fair competition rules and practices between domestic and foreign investors and services providers, amongst other, by reducing, if not fully eliminating existing equity caps and abolishing restrictions on establishment and licence acquisition;
Amendment 44 #
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Stresses that IPRs should only be enforced in such cases where IPR infringements would directly have damaging and detrimental effects on patients´ health; insists that nothing in the agreement must hamper access to affordable generic medicines; underlines that the protection of geographical indications should be pursued in the interests of small producers and consumers;
Amendment 50 #
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the European Commission to refrain from including an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS) into a possible future free trade agreement between the EU and Vietnam and supports the right to regulate in the general interest of society;
Amendment 56 #
Paragraph 14
14. Commends the socioeconomic progress made by Vietnam as part of its Doi Moi reform, and supports its continued efforts for further societal improvements; salutes therefore Vietnam's candidature endorsed by ASEAN to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the term 2014-2016 and its Government's decision of 27 August 2013 to submit an aide-memoire containing voluntary pledges and commitments to contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular calls on the Vietnamese authorities to treat the forced abduction of Sombath Samphone, a human rights activist and campaigner from Laos, with high priority and thus fostering sustainable development on its territory and in relation to its partners;
Amendment 59 #
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Insists that a strongly worded chapter on sustainable development, laying down the highest possible social, environmental and labour standards is of utmost importance and therefore needs to be an integral, binding and enforceable part of a possible future FTA with Vietnam and must include concrete provisions to review the agreement, depending on possible adverse effects of the agreement in the area of environmental protection, labour and social rights; believes that an up to date and independent ex-ante Sustainable Impact Assessment (SIA) of the possible positive as well as negative impacts of such an agreement is necessary before an agreement can be concluded; is of the opinion that additionally, an independent ex-ante Human Rights Impact Assessment is needed as well as concrete provisions on mechanisms to review the agreement on the basis of an ex-post Human Rights Impact Assessment that evaluates the impact of obligations arising from the agreement such as liberalisation provisions, intellectual property provisions and investment provisions; insists that on the basis of the findings of such an impact assessment, the agreement can be suspended, amended or abandoned;