Forthcoming General Affairs and External Relations Council: Discussion with Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Minister covered a number of issues but I will focus on two, the first of which is the European economic recovery plan, about which I have some concerns. The feeling is that it has been rather underwhelming, in the sense that it appears to be more an amalgam of national recovery plans than a truly European economic recovery plan. I draw the Minister’s attention to the proposal made by the Greens in the European Parliament that the European Union should consider a full-blooded economic stimulus package at European level, raising approximately €500 billion between private and public funds with the aim of creating at least 5 million new jobs across the Union in the next few years. We must consider such an ambitious programme, especially when it fits so well with both the energy and climate change objectives of the European Union. I hope the Minister will raise this issue when the economic recovery plan is being discussed.
The other issue I wish to raise was not mentioned by the Minister but he is aware of it, namely, the free trade agreement being negotiated between the European Union and Colombia. The Department has been kept fully briefed on the issue. Concerns have been raised. We are all aware that Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, certainly as far as trade unionists are concerned. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, wrote to the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Roche, in March to highlight some of its concerns. If the Minister bears with me, I will read a small section of that letter. It states:
Dear Minister,
As you noted in your letter [the ICTU referred to a previous letter from the Minister of State, Deputy Roche] the European Commission decided on 9 December on the list of countries that would benefit under the GSP+ [that was the extension of the previous trade agreements in place between the European Union and Colombia] and Colombia was included in that list. In your letter you conclude that “the Commission considered that based on objective criteria Colombia qualified for GSP+. The compliance of beneficiary countries with the standards which entitle them to benefit under GSP+ is kept under constant review by the Commission and the possibility exists that such benefits may be withdrawn in cases of non-compliance.”
The decision to include Colombia in the list of countries which would benefit under GSP+ is especially difficult to understand given that the EU claims that to qualify for GSP+ status a country must ratify and comply with the 27 Conventions on Human Rights and Labour Standards, including ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association and the protection of the right to organise and Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining. Colombia clearly does not comply with these conventions.
During the last two months four trade union leaders were killed in Colombia:
- 20 February assassination of Leoncio Gurierrez of the SUTEV trade union.
- 15 February assassination of Guillermo Antonio Ramirez of the SER trade union.
- 12 February assassination of Luis Alberto Arango Crespo, president of the Fishing and Agricultural Workers’ Association.
- 28 January assassination of Leovigildo Mejia of the ASOGRAS trade union.
In addition to the four murders, the regional trade union leader Jose Jair Valencia Agudelo, a member of EDUCAL trade union, is in intensive care in hospital having been shot six times on his way to work on 26 February … I am also extremely concerned that the EU has begun negotiations with Colombia for a bilateral EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which would provide Colombia with further economic benefits despite the country making almost no progress in ending violence against trade unionists, and we note that President Barack Obama and the United States recently rejected such a deal citing anti-trade union attacks as the principle reason for doing so.
I therefore kindly ask you to act in favour of opening an EU investigation into Colombia’s labour and human rights performance as it is permitted to do under the regulation governing GSP+, as you also noted in your letter to me.
Any serious objective analysis of Colombia’s compliance with the 27 Conventions on Human Rights and Labour Standards can only come to one conclusion: Colombia does not comply with these conventions.
Will the Minister to respond to some of these concerns and indicate whether he would be in favour of seeking an EU investigation into Colombia’s labour and human rights performance? It is a matter of concern that not alone was the GSP+ extended from 2009 to 2011 but that a new free trade agreement is being negotiated with Colombia. Given that the US Congress saw fit to reject a free trade agreement of that nature, questions must be asked about why the European Union is considering it. Perhaps the Minister will also raise the issue at the GAERC meeting.
Deputy Micheál Martin: Senator de Búrca referred to the economic recovery plan which I have addressed. I take her point on events in Colombia. We will raise the matter with the European Union.
