- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 25 September 1996 (28th and 29th Sittings) (see Doc. 7615, report by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, rapporteur: Mr Leers; Doc. 7662, contribution from the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, by Mrs Aytaman; Doc. 7640, contribution from the Committee on Culture and Education, by Mr Elo; Doc. 7621, contribution from the Committee on Science and Technology, by Lord Newall; Doc. 7638, contribution from the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities, by Mr Staes; Doc. 7631, contribution from the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, by Mr Luís; and Doc. 7655, contribution from the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, by Mr Anthopoulos). Text adopted by the Assembly on 25 September 1996 (29th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The enlarged Parliamentary Assembly, composed of delegations from OECD and Council of Europe member countries, has examined the activities of OECD in the light of the organisation's 1995 annual report and the contributions by the various Assembly committees concerned. It commends OECD for its systematic and balanced approach, based on profound and in-depth analysis of economic and social issues of concern to its members and beyond, and for the results obtained. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the annual opportunity to contribute to the achievement of the organisation's objectives. A. Economic policies and co-operation in related fields
2. The economic recovery observed in the OECD area since 1995 is holding firm in some countries such as the United States, while slackening, sometimes considerably, in others, especially in Mexico and several European countries. Growth in the OECD area was 2,9% in 1994, slowed to around 2% in 1995, and is forecast to remain at that level in 1996. By contrast, world merchandise trade grew by almost 10% in 1994 and by 8,5% in 1995, and is forecast to slow further to around 7% in 1996.
3. Inflation in the OECD area stood at 3,9% in 1994 and 3,3% in 1995. A reduction to around 2,5% is forecast for 1996, signifying that it is well under control over the medium term barring unforeseen price increases in important primary commodities. Efforts to keep inflation at reasonable levels are important for economic stability; however, rigid adherence to anti-inflation policies may curtail growth and carry a high social price tag, thereby contributing to significant human costs of both a short and long-term nature. Success in controlling inflation should be guided by such considerations.
4. By contrast, unemployment is the chief political worry in numerous OECD member countries, especially in continental Europe. In the OECD area as a whole it stood at 7,5% in 1995, and is expected to remain at around the same level in 1996. However, this figure masks large differences both between countries, such as the United States with 5,5% and OECD-Europe with 10,5%, and also within countries where certain populations such as youth and older workers are particularly adversely affected by unemployment and vulnerable to sustained long-term unemployment. In OECD-Europe the point is being reached where, for reasons of both social stability and state finances, new policies and programmes must urgently be implemented to tackle this problem at its roots.
5. Growth rates in south-east Asia and east Asia, including China, continue to outpace those in the OECD area, and are expected to do so over the medium term. Certain countries in transition in central and eastern Europe are showing impressive economic gains and are rapidly shedding the last vestiges of communism. Others are reforming more slowly, with growth correspondingly weaker. In several of the newly independent states the transition process is running into pronounced difficulties. In all these countries, infrastructure constraints, inflation, unequal wealth distribution, population pressures, unemployment and environmental degradation may often make their presence felt and underscore the need for integrating economic policy with environmental policy goals, thus moving toward sustainable development.
6. The enlarged Assembly calls on OECD member countries:
6.1 to combat unemployment with new resolve and creativity, basing themselves, inter alia, on all nine recommendations contained in OECD's 1994 Jobs Study, in particular as regards ways of creating a friendly climate for employment and entrepreneurship; rendering social protection systems more conducive to reintegration into active life; preparing the population and especially the young for a new era of intense world-wide competition based on knowledge and skills, giving priority to programmes and expenditures (especially on education and training) that will ensure these objectives are achieved; making it possible for them to have access to the highest possible level of general education and to further training; and adapting national economies to this new reality through reform in all sectors while preserving the essential values of society;
6.2 to introduce a "Technology Watch", a sophisticated system for forecasting technological developments, in order to anticipate their impact on society and thus reduce the period of adjustment of economic and social structures;
6.3 to pursue an approach to public finances that will encourage long-term growth by undertaking systematic reviews of expenditures and taxation systems, and by stimulating the productive forces in society, bearing in mind the long-term social and economic costs associated with an overly stringent fiscal policy approach;
6.4 to do their utmost to ensure that the 1996 World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Singapore is based on a comprehensive and balanced agenda that combines efforts to consolidate and build upon the Uruguay Round results aimed at further trade liberalisation and further strengthening of the multilateral trading system with efforts to ensure environmental protection and improved social conditions for workers world wide;
6.5 to promote the eventual integration of all countries in transition into the rules-based multilateral trade liberalisation framework of the WTO, and to continue their material and conceptual support to these countries, whether directly or through international institutions;
6.6 .to maintain, and where possible to enhance, even in the present period of budgetary constraints, their efforts to assist the poorer developing countries, in particular by implementing the commitment of the 1996 OECD Council at ministerial level to substantially reducing poverty, infant mortality and environmental destruction in the developing world by the year 2015, in the spirit of a new global partnership.
7. With regard to OECD, the enlarged Assembly:
7.1 welcomes the organisation's systematic follow-up to its 1994 Jobs Study and encourages it to provide member states with sound policies for reducing unemployment, based on evaluation research and comparative "best practices" models throughout member countries, taking into account the issues related to youth unemployment and ageing;
7.2 asks it to commit itself to studying, and exploring in depth, creative policies aimed at resolving the relationship between inflation reduction and low unemployment;
7.3 emphasises the importance of new technologies and in particular the new information and communication technologies, and their potential impact on the job market, and encourages therefore OECD to pursue its efforts to further analyse the relationship between technology, productivity and job creation;
7.4 encourages OECD to actively implement its work plan on regulatory reform, making full use of its cross-sectoral and analytical capacity;
7.5 .recognises the importance of the contribution OECD has made to economic reform in countries in transition, and to maintaining and broadening its links with the dynamic non-member economies, the major developing economies and with other countries through the organisation's Emerging Market Economy Forum;
7.6 welcomes the rapid progress made towards a Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), open also to non-OECD countries, and trusts it will set high standards for the liberalisation and protection of international investment as well as for the settlement of disputes, while incorporating a recognition of the need to balance these efforts with equally high standards to ensure environmental protection and improved social conditions;
7.7 considers that the Multilateral Agreement on Investment should comply fully with the spirit of the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises;
7.8 believes that the heightening pace of world economic change will make it necessary for OECD to engage increasingly in future-oriented, cross-disciplinary studies, to prepare its member countries in time for necessary adjustments, and that this part of its work should be given adequate resources;
7.9 supports efforts to make the fullest use of OECD as a forum for consultation on new areas that can either later be taken up within the WTO or supplement work in that body - for instance as regards environment protection, labour and social standards, learning from the experience with the Nafta accords on labour and environmental co-operation, as well as ensuring the compliance of regional trade agreements with WTO principles;
7.10 welcomes the quality of OECD's activities concerning the environment, energy and territorial development, which are vital to the introduction of a global policy for sustainable development;
7.11 welcomes the new Secretary General's intention to implement a reform strategy to increase OECD's efficiency, better focus its priorities and adapt the organisation to a more constrained budgetary environment.
8. With regard to OECD membership, the enlarged Assembly:
8.1 welcomes the accession of Mexico, the Czech Republic and Hungary and hopes that the accession of Poland, the Republic of Korea and the Slovak Republic can take place in the near future;
8.2 notes with satisfaction the organisation's intensified contacts with a considerable number of other economically advancing non-member countries and hopes these contacts will result in mutually beneficial relationships. B.Culture and education
9. While noting the complementarity of the education programmes of OECD and the Council of Europe, the enlarged Assembly calls for closer and more dynamic collaboration between the two organisations in this field, taking account also of the related activities of Unesco and the European Union.
10. The enlarged Assembly welcomes OECD's challenging approach to the implementation of strategies of lifelong learning for all. It would like to pursue with OECD, as a priority area, the problem of youth unemployment. C.Migrations, refugees and demography
11. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the increasing attention given by OECD to migration problems and, taking into account the substantial achievements of the Council of Europe in studying certain specific problems related to migration, is in favour of closer co-operation between the Council of Europe and OECD in this area in order to ensure greater complementarity and avoid duplication. D.Environment, energy and territorial development
12. The problems confronting OECD countries in the environmental field and related areas are sometimes very varied. The priorities of east European countries obviously cannot be those of highly industrialised nations, be they in western Europe or elsewhere in the world.
13. The countries in transition in central and eastern Europe are facing the extremely difficult challenge of achieving satisfactory economic growth, while attempting to stop or, at least, limit serious damage to their environments.
14. Choices regarding production systems, transport infrastructures and energy policies are of crucial importance in the countries in transition, and the know-how and experience of the more highly industrialised countries must therefore be put to good use with a view to generating the conditions for sustainable development in the medium and long term.
15. At the same time, the various studies conducted on the state of the environment in western European countries have shown that the progress made in terms of environmental management is, unfortunately, being offset by the scale of certain problems which not only are persisting but are getting worse. It is therefore vital that political will in this field, which appears to be becoming ever stronger, should be reflected in concrete action at all levels, whether international, European, national or regional. E.Agriculture and rural development
16. Recognising that the long-term objective of substantial progressive reductions in support and protection resulting in fundamental reform is an ongoing process, the enlarged Assembly calls on OECD and its member countries to work actively in support of this objective.
17. The enlarged Assembly considers that more emphasis needs to be given to policies favouring diversified rural development with a view to improving social and economic stability.
18. It is of the opinion that special efforts are needed to achieve better monitoring and forecasting of agricultural policies, markets and trade, taking account of the fluctuations in prices and food stocks and the need for systematic measures to combat the increasing level of world poverty.
19. The enlarged Assembly is concerned that food safety standards be upheld to ensure consumer safety and confidence.
20. .It is also concerned at the long-term consequences of the continued degradation of air, soil and water quality and considers that this must increasingly find expression in commodities policies and prices as well as in trade rules.
21. The enlarged Assembly believes that a far greater effort should be made to achieve sustainable harvesting of fish stocks.
22. Consequently, the enlarged Assembly calls on governments of OECD member countries and, where appropriate, OECD itself:
22.1 to continue and broaden their work for diversified rural development and to sustain their efforts to achieve further substantial reductions in both agricultural protection measures and market distortion;
22.2 to increase efforts and improve the instruments for the monitoring and forecasting of agri cultural policies, markets and trade;
22.3 to improve food safety standards and their control;
22.4 to increasingly include environmental "costs" in agricultural commodities prices (the "polluter pays" principle), to take due account of environmental parameters in trade rules and to develop work on the relations between agriculture and environment, in particular agri-environmental indicators;
22.5 to continue the close co-operation with central and eastern European countries and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union on matters related to the design and monitoring of policy reform in the agro-food sector;
22.6 .to continue their efforts with regard to the monitoring of fisheries policies and broaden their work on the management of living marine resources in order to achieve a sustainable management of fisheries using a multi-species approach
