Brussels, 22/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - During a meeting with Commissioner Pascal Lamy, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Emilio Gabaglio, stressed the need to promote, through trade liberalisation, the respect of fundamental rights at work as decided by the governments, employers and trade unions within the ILO. Mr Gabaglio received assurance from Mr Lamy on the fact that the European Commission would keep its commitment on this aspect, as well as on its determination to closely cooperate with the civil society.
The aim of the Commission's work is to launch the permanent joint labour forum at the WTO and the ILO on the social aspects of trade, which also involves other international organisations. It would be best for it to be launched in coming months and at any rate before the next ministerial conference of the 140, said the ETUC General Secretary. "This may be considered as a first preparatory step" for the ministerial meeting in Qatar in the autumn, he said. He also wished to have assurance that the Union had not gone back on the positions taken in Seattle in December 1999, and received confirmation of the European Commission's determination to involve European social partners and the representatives of civil society more actively in his delegation. Furthermore, they must have full freedom to express their views and to meet in Qatar, stressed Mr Gabaglio, to which Mr Lamy replied in the affirmative, saying he had received the Doha regime's assurance that this would indeed be the case. Finally, ETUC welcomed during this meeting the so-called "Everything but Arms" initiative, aimed at total opening of the Union markets to products from the poorest countries of the planet, as it believes it may contribute to the creation of a fairer world order that should be a fundamental objective of the new WTO round of talks.