EU Contribution on SILC
Informal Consultations, 5 - 6 February 2008
EU Contribution on SILC
1. The EU thanks the Office for the document "Draft elements of a possible
authoritative text" which provides us with a very useful starting point for the
discussions on SILC during this round of consultations and for the next steps.
General comments:
2. The EU highlights that promoting decent work, the social dimension of
globalization and EU cooperation with stronger multilateral organizations is
part of the EU Declaration on Globalization as adopted by the European
Council of 14 December 2007. The EU commitment to the decent work
agenda as a global instrument is also part of the conclusions of the European
Council. The SILC discussion is therefore timely and also very relevant in this
context.
3. The EU considers that the DWA is not only very relevant for technical
cooperation but should also be implemented on a more strategic level, on the
policy level. Therefore it should be an integral part of an overall national
strategy which responds to national needs and priorities.
4. The EU appreciates that the "text" explicitly refers to a number of comments
made by the EU at the October 2007 tripartite consultations as well as at the
2007 June ILC.
5. The EU welcomes the general thrust of the “text” aimed at mobilizing both
Member States and the ILO on the objectives of Decent Work, to seek
coherence around these objectives at the level of the internal ILO organization
as well as in their own national policies.
6. The positive aspect of globalization and the opportunity generated by the
globalization should be more emphasized in the text
7. The EU considers that the importance of the ILO supervisory system and its
normative role should be clearly recognized in the text.
8. The text should be simplified and made more precise in certain paragraphs to
gain clarity and avoid different interpretations.
Comments on Section I:
9. The EU would like to see the tripartite nature of the ILO stated more explicitly
both in the preamble and the operative part.
10. The EU welcomes the fact that the importance of the policy coherence and the
interdependence between the four strategic objectives is included in the "text".
However we need more practical proposals and guidance on how the vertical,
horizontal and external governance as well as the external linkages, being
largely address in the SILC Conference Paper 2007, could be used in order to
foster coherent and effective means to ILO action in the context of Decent
Work.
11. We also consider that the sustainability of ILO's four strategic objectives as
well as their political and practical implications should also be included as an
important element to promote the DWA.
Comments on Section II:
12. While fully recognizing the importance of implementing the Decent Work
Agenda at national level, and supporting members’ efforts to do so, the EU is
of the view that related action should depend very much on national needs
and priorities. The text in Section II A) on the role of members/tripartite
constituents therefore needs to make it clearer that the various suggestions in
sub-paras (i) - (vi) do not have a mandatory status, that they represent
recommendations only, that they express guidance, and will not impose new
obligations on the Office or the ILO's constituents, or divert from action to
make decent work for all a reality.
13. The EU suggests that the aspect of sharing, on a voluntary basis, national and
regional good practices gained from the successful implementation of national
and/or regional initiatives with a Decent work element should be included in
the “text” as one of the ways to give effect to the Decent work strategy (as an
additional point vii) to Section II A).
14. The EU would like to see the assurance given by the Office, that SILC must
not result in any additional reporting obligations arising from the intended
cyclical reviews on the part of Member States, nor in a weakening the
supervisory system of ILO, reflected in the text. The cyclical reviews should
not be seen as a mean to mobilize additional resources but rather to better
allocate the existing ones. Therefore, it would be appreciated by the EU if the
ILO could identify by June the reallocation of resources to be made by
introducing cyclical reviews.
15. The EU feels that the intended effect of SILC process on the ILO is not
sufficiently emphasized. Our aim from the outset has been to improve the
capacity and policy coherence within the ILO to help its constituents, but the
current text provides little evidence of how this can be achieved. The
document should be amended to demonstrate clearly both how the Decent
Work Policy as a global strategy and how ILO governance and capacity will be
enhanced through the SILC process. The EU would like to reiterate that there
needs to be progress on both elements in line with the 2007 Resolution (2a
and 2b), as affirmed in the oral report on SILC consultations made during the
last GB.
16. The EU stresses the importance of research and solid empirical knowledge in
order to obtain high quality analysis and support from ILO to its constituents.
This is especially needed if the ILO is to provide high quality cyclical reviews
with a concrete added value, in order to ensure the effective and efficient
implementation of DWA. We would like to see the Office elaborate on how the
ILO intends to restructure its research capacity in order to be able to provide
such reports. The EU also wishes to express the importance of cooperation
with other organizations in achieving this necessary empirical base.
Comments on Section III:
17. The "Impact evaluation report" is a new element of discussion. Therefore the
EU considers that additional clarification on this element is needed, particularly
regarding the question to know on what basis the Office will prepare its report.
We call for more information and we would like to stress that any follow-up on
governance or capacity must be ILO-action oriented with specific timescales
for progress. Equally the EU would like to obtain an explanation of the
involvement of other potentially interested intergovernmental organizations in
the evaluation foreseen.
Comments on the organization of further consultations and discussions:
18. We would like to ask the Office to get more guidance and information on the
Steering Committee by the end of this day in order to have a more in-depth
discussion on this issue tomorrow.
19. The EU would like to ask the Office for an updated programme of work on the
SILC process.
20. The EU hopes to continue in a constructive dialogue with other groups with a
view with to achieve a positive substantive outcome at the 2008 ILC, in order
to strengthen the ILO´s capacity in the context of globalization. The EU looks
forward to obtain additional written information regarding capacity and
governance issues.