Karamanou (PSE).
– (EL) Mr President, I should like to congratulate Mrs Gillig on
her excellent report and the European Commission for raising such a serious and
topical issue, at a time when the future of Europe is being debated and it is
playing an increasingly important role on the international political stage.
We need to stress today how important it
is for the European Union to exert influence and take initiatives to ensure
that ILO conventions are ratified by countries which have not yet done so, core
labour standards are observed, social dialogue is consolidated in all the WTO
member countries, action is taken against the disgraceful exploitation of child
labour and the modern slave trade, a common, integrated immigration and asylum
policy is at last introduced and action is taken against the overexploitation
of immigrants, which has turned modern society into a society of haves and
have-nots. Europe needs to act as a global standard and driving force, using
international agreements such as the Cotonou Agreement to actively promote
equality of the sexes, not just for reasons of fairness, but as an important
factor in limiting poverty and achieving a viable economy, social development,
greater democratisation, stability and peace.
Unfortunately, unbridled globalisation
without social guarantees has globalised poverty rather than wealth. The
International Labour Organisation is talking in terms of one billion unemployed
in the world and we unfortunately appear to have turned not just into a market
economy but into a market society, which is why we urgently need to promote
policies which will transform globalisation into a source of prosperity and
greater equality rather than a threat to social development and world peace.