C Explanatory memorandum by Ms Liliana
Tanguy, rapporteur for opinion
1. I would like to welcome the
timely report by Mr George Katrougalos for the Political Affairs
Committee. A wide range of global developments has shaken up the
established order, questioning the course of policies currently
in place and encouraging reflection on what national authorities
and international organisations could do to address the systemic
issues, both current and future ones. I fully agree with the analysis
of Mr Katrougalos on the basis of the OECD’s insights and recommendations,
especially when it comes to the need for more transversal and holistic
policies. Indeed, innovative holistic policies are needed to support human
development and more human-oriented macro-economic structures. The
latter should be at the service of human well-being and not the
financial markets. The OECD’s framework, “better policies for better
lives”, well encapsulates this aspiration and should keep guiding
policy makers in their daily decisions.
2. It is an alarming observation to hear that the Human Development
Index is declining worldwide for the first time on record, with
so many countries backsliding in terms of health, education and
standard of living. As progress on mitigating the climate crisis,
rising inequalities and a cost-of-living crisis has slowed down,
so has progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) by 2030. The Committee on Social Affairs has been raising
these issues on multiple occasions and put forward recommendations
to member States for getting to grips with strategic challenges
and trends, beyond the issues of immediate concern.
3. I should highlight proposals contained in the Assembly’s resolutions
and recommendations on socio-economic inequalities,
Note the future of work,
Note discrimination based on social
origin,
Note artificial intelligence versus human
work and healthcare,
Note human right to a healthy environment,
Note and multilateralism in healthcare,
Note to mention but a few.
The recent High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations (10-19
July 2023, New York, USA) was a major opportunity for this Assembly’s
members to highlight policy proposals endorsed so far, to stress
the interdependence of fundamental rights with human development
and to take stock of the international community’s efforts to seek
synergies in working together towards achieving the SDGs. Building on
the co-operation agreement between the OECD and the Council of Europe,
the two organisations should continue their co-operation in these
areas, in particular as regards artificial intelligence.
(Amendment E)
4. From the perspective of the Committee on Social Affairs, unbridled
economic growth risks undermining not only the environmental and
social sustainability of the global system but also ultimately economic
resilience and public trust in democracy. We should therefore plead
for a fairer balance of public and private interests. I believe
we should add a cautionary note in this context.
Note Given the new focus on the availability
of critical raw materials, it is of critical importance to seek
to ensure that a new geopolitics with new “monopolists” and “crony capitalist”
actors do not hijack the possibility of designing a more inclusive,
resilient and sustainable set of rules for globalisation. When we
set the narrative of openness, the rules must prioritise public
interest and shield the vulnerable population.
5. We can commend the OECD’s choice of underlying principles
for trade and investment policies: “the shared values of individual
liberty, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, gender equality,
environmental sustainability and tackling inequalities.” We would
moreover like to see that the indivisibility of human rights gets
reflected in public policy choices and that we keep a close eye
to make sure that economic, social and environmental rights are
not put on the back-burner under the pressure from the financial
markets for fiscal rebalancing of public policies and budget (namely
austerity policies). Thus, in the discussion of the fiscal pressures
in the medium and longer-term resulting from trends such as population
ageing and the rising relative price of services, it is important
to further strengthen the idea that investment in care services
should be seen not as a cost but rather as a social investment with
high returns for the public. A new fiscal sustainability framework
is needed to focus more on social and environmental sustainability. (Amendment G)
6. To this end, I would like to see more emphasis on “guaranteeing
our economic and social rights”, “protecting the right to a safe,
clean, healthy and sustainable environment” and “ensuring the indivisibility
of rights” in the draft resolution. According to the OECD while
“Covid-19 spending presented an opportunity to enhance climate policy
efforts, … evidence shows that it did not quite live up to the promise
of ‘building back better’. Only around a third of total recovery
spending was environmentally friendly, and almost 15% of total recovery
spending went towards environmentally harmful activities”. We should
therefore push for better impact assessment mechanisms in our member
States. Both the OECD and the Council of Europe should consider
capacity building programmes in members States for impact assessment
mechanisms with a strong human rights perspective, taking into account
economic, social and environment rights simultaneously, strengthening
capacity towards achieving the SDGs, mainstreaming gender-sensitive
budgeting, building resilience and ensuring the inclusivity of the
processes. This would allow a better scrutiny of fiscal programmes and
ensure that fiscal policies do not open up the gap between the rights
enshrined in our legal documents and the fiscal choices. (Amendments B, C and H)
7. In this context, we should applaud the OECD’s perseverance
in forging the consensus for the Inclusive Framework to address
taxation problems arising from the digitalisation of the global
economy. This Inclusive Framework, endorsed by 138 countries and
jurisdictions, provides a solid basis for agreeing final implementation
modalities, reforming as necessary national taxation rules and enlarging
the circle of virtuous countries (now more than 40) that already
implement the global minimum tax for large multinational enterprises in
the digital field. Entrepreneurial and dynamic State is what we
need to secure resilient by design approaches to economic development.
We should therefore encourage the OECD to complete the set of measures foreseen
under the two-pillar solution for implementing the global minimum
tax – together with efforts to build tax capacity in developing
countries so that they could benefit fully from the new taxation
rules. (Amendment A)
8. On a final note, I wish to stress the need to pay more attention
to youth participation: as the OECD notes, younger people tend to
trust government less than other population groups do. The Assembly
resolution should underline the critical need to focus on building
this trust among the young. A youth-focus in policy design and the
communication of it with the public is necessary so the young do
not slip into the hands of populists while they are building up
their personalities and political affiliations. This would have
significant implications on the design of social and labour market
policies, notably to ease the pain of the cost-of-living crisis
and to tackle more effectively discrimination based on social origin.
