The committee adopted the own-initiative report drawn up by Mihael BREJC (EPP-ED, SI) in response to the Commission communication on the social dimension of globalisation. It said that the EU could make a significant contribution to achieving a process of globalisation with a strong social dimension "based on universally shared values, respect for human rights and individual dignity, which is fair, inclusive and democratically governed, provides opportunities and tangible benefits for all countries and people and is linked to the Millennium Development Goals". It called for the Commission to come forward with concrete proposals for internal and external EU policies in this field, and highlighted a series of measures which should be taken:
- social rights, social dialogue and human rights should be given greater importance in the EU's various external programmes;
- the EU's partnerships should include a social pillar covering among other things labour standards;
- through bilateral agreements the Commission should ensure that, at the least, ILO (International Labour Organisation) standards are respected in order to ensure humane working conditions;
- the Commission, the Council and
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- the EU should use its bilateral relations to ensure that jobs which are moved off -shore or relocated outside the EU do not end up being performed in sweat shops in the third world but instead, that jobs of high quality are created.
Finally, MEPs noted that efforts to raise awareness among multinational companies of their social responsibility had as yet had little effect. They therefore called on the Commission to present proposals on how to enhance the compulsory nature of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and prevent companies who make no efforts in this direction from benefiting from the efforts of others.