Press release

14/11/12

In a delegation of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee to ILO in Geneva on Monday, MEPs discussed ILO recommendations on responding to the financial, social and employment crisis in the EU and the Eurozone. ILO has a role to play in the Eurozone crisis and it should be involved in the Troïka, MEPs reminded.

A delegation of 6 MEPs from the Employment and Social Affairs Committee were in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva on Monday. They met Guy Ryder, the newly elected ILO Director-General, discussed ILO recommendations on responding to the financial, social and employment crisis in the EU and the Eurozone. ILO should play a greater role in the Eurozone crisis and be involved in the Troïka, they say.

Building on previous exchanges since 2009, Pervenche Berès asked for « enhancing ILO contribution to the EU social agenda in the European Parliament in the eve of the decision by the ILO Governing Body on the compatibility of Troika recommendations on Greece with ILO conventions ».

MEPs also met several representatives from the ILO to discuss recent developments related to working conditions and ILO Convention 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers, the Maritime Labour Convention, international labour standards, the implementation of the new ILO recommendation regarding social protection floors (access to essential health care and basic income) and ILO initiatives in cooperation with the EU related to the Arab Spring.

The delegation led by Employment and Social Affairs Committee Chair Pervenche Berès (S&D, FR) was composed by committee coordinators Csaba Öry (EPP, HU) and Alejandro Cercas (S&D, ES), and by Marian Harkin (ALDE, IE), Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA, UK) and Jutta Steinruck (S&D/DE).