Brussels, 02/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its opinion on the recommendations of the European Parliament on the free-trade agreement between the EU and the United States (TTIP), which was adopted on Wednesday 1 April, the employment and social affairs (EMPL) committee of the European Parliament called for the protection of existing jobs and labour standards, and for public services to be kept in the domain of the member states. It also rejected any form of private courts of arbitration to resolve investor-state disputes (ISDS).
The opinion drafted by Marian Harkin (ALDE, Ireland) calls upon the Commission to ensure the full respect of international labour standards and argues for social, environmental, health in the workplace and safety standards to be protected and improved.
The EMPL committee firmly believes that TTIP must not lead to any weakening, circumvention or invalidation of the standards of the EU and its member states in workers' rights, working conditions, social security, social inclusion and social protection, health and safety in the workplace, professional training, professional qualifications, free movement of workers and pensioners, social dialogue, anti-discrimination in the workplace or on the employment market.
The EMPL committee also calls for TTIP to include comprehensive and binding provisions on labour laws and policies at all decision-making levels - provisions which are in keeping with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In the event of any disputes, labour provisions must be subject to a dispute settlement mechanism in which ILO supervisory bodies can play a role, and their full implementation must be subject to a monitoring process involving the social partners and civil society.
The EMPL committee also calls for public services (including water, education, social security systems and health) to be excluded from the scope of TTIP. The EU should guarantee the right of the member states to legislate, fund, organise, set quality and safety standards for, manage and regulate all public services including education, social services, health services, water supply, sewage disposal, waste disposal, social security, railways and public transport, energy, cultural and audiovisual services.
The opinion also calls for any agreement on the ISDS clause to take account of the public consultation, respect the member states' right to regulate and neither restrict nor hinder the powers of the legislators to adopt and apply social and labour laws. It also stresses that the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism is an appropriate tool to settle disputes over investments, given the fact that the EU and the US both have fully functional legal systems and operate at a level sufficient to guarantee the legal security of investments.
As regards services, the opinion defends the positive list method, whereby services to be opened up to foreign businesses are explicitly included in the agreement.
To moderate potential costs and job losses in the implementation of TTIP, the EMPL committee calls for realistic statistical projections, constantly updated, on the sectors affected in each member state, so that timely interventions can be made to support them if necessary.
Under the aegis of the international trade committee, 15 parliamentary committees are involved in drafting the Parliament's recommendations on the TTIP negotiations. The vote on the report by Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) in the international trade committee is scheduled for 7 May, and the plenary vote will take place two weeks later. (Emmanuel Hagry)