With the white flag ” “

Europe has been projected on the world scene on the occasion of the G8, hosted in the Scottish hotel of Gleneagles. The host, British premier Tony Blair , is also current President of the European Union and over the last few months has spared no effort to express at the planetary level the problem of the shortage of water, famine and deprivation in Africa. Alongside him are the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Parliament Borrell, to underline the full involvement of the EU on these fronts. Ue, cooperaTION AND “BAD CONSCIENCE”. In a summit that placed global poverty and pollution at the top of its agenda, the EU has brought positive messages: it is in fact the leading organization in the world in terms of support for cooperation and humanitarian aid; the commitment of the 25 in support of the approval and application of the Kyoto Protocol on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions should also be underlined. The European conscience on the other hand is far from clear in terms of international trade and the protection of its own agriculture: in these cases EU subsidies create protectionist situations unfavourable to farm produce in the poor countries. Moreover, the Union did not come with any cohesion to the summit of world leaders at Gleneagles: many internal questions have long agitated the minds of European leaders, beginning with Blair and French President Jacques Chirac, who have argued about practically everything in recent weeks (Constitution, Financial Prospects, future of the EU and even the candidacy of their respective capitals to host the 2012 Olympics). On the other hand, messages of unity were brought to Gleneagles by José Manuel Barroso (“Europe can and must do more for Africa”; “European leaders have pledged to increase aid to development by 20 million euros per year down to 2010”) and by Josep Borrell. The President of the European Parliament had the EP headquarters in Strasbourg, which hosted its plenary session from 4 to 7 July, surrounded with a white flag, “symbol of the fight against poverty in the world”. The white flag, explained Borrell in opening the session, “represents the priority objective of the Union’s development policy”. Europe has allocated “46 billion euros in favour of development for this year: a sum that corresponds to the price paid by each European citizen for a cup of coffee each week”. The Union “has nonetheless pledged to raise its development aid to 66 billion euros within five years”. BAN ON FIRMS THAT EXPLOIT THE UNDER AGE. To confirm this “vocation in support of the Third World”, the EP (in a session that also dealt with the euro, regional funds, Iraq and IT patents), approved a report, drawn up by the Greek MEP Manolis Mavrommatis, which aims to “combat poverty, increase efforts in the fight against child labour and the worst forms of child exploitation in the developing countries” and “improve access to education”. The Greek MEP explained “that 352 million children are working in the world”, in situations that have a severe impact on their health and education, and cause grave damage to “their physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development”. The report “invites all States to proceed as soon as possible to the ratification and application of the UN Convention on the rights of childhood” and to ratify “Conventions 138 and 182 of the International labour Organization, since any other attitude would be contrary to the Charter of Fundamental Rights”. The report also calls for “the introduction of a Community regime aimed at labelling EU products with the words ‘without recourse to child labour’, in conformity with the international regulations of the World Trade Organization”. The European Parliament especially recommends the Commission “to investigate and identify companies that use child manpower” and asks that the list of such firms “be placed at the disposal of importers of the European Union”. Microcredit and support for education. On the political level, on the other hand, the EU, according to the same report, should use its own role as “principal donor to aid to development” to bring pressure to bear on UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, “so that policies be formulated for the protection of children, and to support the measures requested by UNICEF to eliminate child labour”. The EP also tackles the wider question of the violations of the rights of children, and in particular “the right to health, education and food, and the need to protect them from violence, exploitation and maltreatment. The report asks the EU to designate a “special envoy” who would devote himself to the problems of child victims of wars, migration, hunger, drought, natural disasters and Aids. The same concern is expressed “for the girls and boys who are the object of the trafficking of human beings”. Among the facilities to support the poor countries, the European Parliament points out the valuable role of microcredit to boost family incomes and support primary and secondary schooling.