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Abstract
This article describes and analyses the role of the European Union in promoting the social dimension of globalization (SDG). In the context of its policy coherence for development (PCD) commitments, the EU aims to promote decent work, including core labour standards (CLS) and employment objectives, in the Third World. The first part of this article shows that the “direct” impact of internal EU social policies on developing countries has been limited. Moreover, the Community's capacity to act in the International Labour Organization has been confined by sensitive competence issues. The second and third parts elaborate on the “indirect” trade and development mechanisms through which the EU is advancing the SDG. Whereas the EU originally used a narrow approach centred on CLS in trade relations, it gradually developed a broader and development‐orientated perspective, including the support of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes. The article concludes that although the EU has clearly increased the social face of its development policies, this softer approach is still in an embryonic phase.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Richard Whitman, Lisa Tortell, Rudi Delarue, and two anonymous reviewers for useful comment on previous drafts.
Notes
1. It concerns ILO conventions Nos 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, Nos 29 and 105 on elimination of forced and compulsory labour, Nos 100 and 111 on elimination of discrimination in respect of employment, and Nos 138 and 182 on abolition of child labour.
2. “Decent work” encompasses CLS, but has a broader meaning: CLS should be complemented with other social goals that guarantee full employment and decent work in the formal and informal sectors.
3. Attempts by the Commission, the European Parliament and the EESC to increase the Community's role in relation to ILO standards date back to the 1970s (Orbie et al. Citation2005).
4. The Commission (Citation2007a, p. 98) noticed that the success of European social policies contributes to a brain drain from the South, for example from African countries' health sector, but that this effect is mitigated through Europe's migration policy.
5. The EU continues to raise labour issues at the WTO level through the discussion of the Trade Policy Reviews.
6. Besides ideological factors, reluctance from the Council also stems from member state sensitivities about creeping EU competences in labour‐related and trade‐related issues (Orbie et al. Citation2005). Hence, the problems of coordination that also characterize EU–ILO relations spilled over into the European debate on a social clause.
7. For example, it concerns the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries under the Lomé/Cotonou Agreements; countries which concluded a trade agreement with the EU such as Mexico, Chile, and South Africa; Latin American beneficiaries of the GSP drugs regime, and “Everything But Arms” (EBA) beneficiaries (the least‐developed countries).
8. ILO Director General Somavía's suggestion to establish a WCSDG (June 2001) was accepted a few days before the Doha Conference (November 2001).
9. See, for example, EC (Citation2003); and Anna Diamantopoulou, Address at seminar on the SDG, 3 February 2003, http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/international_cooperation/docs/globalisation_report_wcsdg_march03_en.pdf (accessed 5 June 2008).
10. Council of 3 March 2005.
11. As announced at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/wcsdg/consulta/index.htm.
12. Council of 21 July 2003.
13. Some argue that EU coordination on labour standards has also increased (Delarue Citation2006).
14. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.
15. “In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth (Millennium Development Goals)” (EC Citation2006b, p. 54).
16. ICFTU, Comments on the EU and ACP negotiating mandates. 16 September 1998.
17. See the advice attached to EP, Gillig Report, 24 June 2002.
18. For comparisons of CLS in EU and US bilateral agreements, see Kerremans and Gistelinck (Citation2007).
19. In addition, the ILO could be given a stronger role in linking GSP incentives with the implementation — instead of merely the ratification — of ILO conventions (EC and ILO Citation2006, p. 4).
20. Commercial and geopolitical considerations also played a role (Fierro Citation2003, pp. 375–376).
21. For example, in 2005 it launched a dialogue with China on employment, labour legislation, social dialogue, social protection and social cohesion (EC Citation2006a, p. 7).
22. According to some sources in the Commission, about 12 per cent of these budget lines is spent on decent work and employment, while most expenditures go to the health sector.
24. The UK, for example, was circumspect about the need for a parallel EU‐wide CSR framework, and seemed to prefer that EU action on CSR be based on the principle of subsidiarity. See Murray (Citation2003), or http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/policy.htm for more on the positions of EU member states.
26. There is also an institutional dimension to this “forum shifting” from the WTO to the ILO. Within the Commission the main responsibility shifted from DG Trade to DG Employment and Social Affairs and DG Development. CSR initiatives are led by the DGs for Social and Employment Affairs and for Industry and Enterprise.