EU trade commissioner calls on member states to suspend Belarus trade benefits

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has urged European Union member states to support the European Commission's proposal that the EU should temporarily suspend Belarus' benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences in response to violations of trade union rights.

"The incentives have to be real. Where countries systematically flout Core Labour Standards, we need to be prepared to act. The Commission has recommended the withdrawal of GSP privileges from Belarus and I call on the Member States today to endorse that measure," the EU press office quoted him as saying on Tuesday.

"In my view, this decision is a test case of our collective commitment to the promotion of workers rights as an integral part of our trade policy," he added.

Earlier in the day, the expert committee under the European Commission voted to approve the move, clearing the way for EU foreign ministers to formally announce the suspension of the benefits later this month and for the Commission to impose tariffs on imports of Belarusian wood, textiles and minerals next summer.

The European Commission started the procedure of suspending the benefits in connection with a probe by the International Labor Organization (ILO)'s Commission of Inquiry into alleged violations of trade union rights in Belarus.

The ILO Commission of Inquiry adopted the 12 recommendations for the Belarusian government in late 2004, after considering a 200-page report compiled by a special commission formed to probe the Belarusian government's alleged interference in the activities of trade unions.

It gave the government until June 1, 2005 to fulfill eight recommendations, in particular to remove all obstacles to freedom of association and guarantee protection of independent unions subjected to government pressure.

The ILO called on Minsk to make changes in the country's laws to allow unions to organize freely, and to respect independent unionists' civil rights. It demanded that the government guarantee protection to labor organizations subject to harassment, such as the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions and several others. //BelaPAN