EU invest policy must promote sustainable devt, decent work—civil society

MANILA, Philippines—Civil society groups in Europe are calling for an European Union international investment policy that promotes sustainable development and decent work, INQUIRER.net learned Monday.

In a signature campaign petition, non-government organizations pointed out the need to push the various institutions in Europe (European Commission, European Council, and European Parliament) to set a more positive direction of the future EU investment policy after the Lisbon Treaty.

The Lisbon Treaty, in force starting 1 December 2009, raised foreign investment from the level of the 27 European member states to the EU level. And the EU institutions are discussing its content and direction.

“This is a crucial moment since the EU is currently negotiating free trade and investment agreements with India, Malaysia, Canada, Mercosur, and other nations and it is preparing new investment agreements with countries such as China and Russia,” the Europe-based civil society said.

The petition asked that the future European investment regime:

* incorporate investor obligations into investment agreements in particular in areas of human rights, environmental protection, decent work, and corporate accountability;

* contain more precise and restrictive language regarding investors’ rights;

* abolish the one-sided and secretive investor-to-state dispute settlement mechanism;

* ensure that government measures which are designed and applied to protect or enhance public policy objectives cannot be challenged as “indirect expropriation” of investments;

* include a substantive social and environmental dimension;

* include core labor standards clause, including the freedom to organize and collectively bargain, as part of the sustainability impact assessments in accordance to the EU commitment on trade and labor; and

* EU member states’ negotiations of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) should be put on hold. Existing BITs should be thoroughly assessed and replaced to comply with the principles of sustainable development, decent work and social equity.

Civil society groups in Europe are asked to sign the petition and submit to cecilia@tni.org before 25 February 2011 so it may be submitted to the European Parliament “in time for their vote on the issue.”

According to the initiators of the signature campaign petition, international investment agreements give multinational corporations the right to sue sovereign states before international arbitration tribunals.

“Investors and law firms are increasingly making use of this possibility and do not hesitate to challenge governments’ social, environmental and economic regulations if these seem to reduce the profitability of their investments. A steep increase of investor-to-state arbitration cases against Europe is likely if EU policy makers continue to give international investors these privileged legal rights,” it said.

“International investment agreements pose a threat to democratic governance and the public interest. The undersigned organizations call upon the European institutions and the governments of EU member states to develop a balanced investment policy that holds international investors accountable and protects the right to regulate in favour of public interest, decent work, human rights, and environmental sustainability,” it added. –INQUIRER.net