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Resolution 1684 (2009)
Activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2008-2009
1. For the purpose
of debating the activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe meets annually in an enlarged forum including delegations
from the non-European member states of the OECD and the European
Parliament. The enlarged Parliamentary Assembly has reviewed the
activities of the OECD in 2008-2009 in the light of the OECD’s latest
annual report, the report submitted by the Assembly’s Committee
on Economic Affairs and Development, and the contributions of other
Assembly committees in the fields of health and social policy, the environment,
agriculture, migration, education and science.
OECD enlargement
2. The enlarged Assembly hopes
for progress towards full membership of Chile, Estonia, Israel,
the Russian Federation and Slovenia. Furthermore, the enlarged Assembly
looks forward to the further participation of Brazil, China, India,
Indonesia and South Africa in the substantive work of the OECD under
the “Enhanced Engagement” programmes, leading up to accession talks,
as well as to further co-operation between the OECD and South-East
Asia as a priority region. The enlarged Assembly believes that full
respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, including
international law, should constitute an essential criterion for
judging whether a candidate country should be invited to join the
OECD.
Global economy
3. The enlarged Assembly deplores
the depth and effects of the current recession, which the OECD in
its June 2009 Economic Outlook characterises
as “the deepest decline in post-war history”, and which has brought some
countries to the brink of bankruptcy. The OECD estimates that output
in the OECD economies will fall by 4.1% this year, with an ensuing
recovery “likely to be weak and fragile for some time to come”.
The enlarged Assembly especially emphasises the severe impact of
the crisis on unemployment and the continuing challenges this poses
to governments. Unemployment will peak in 2010-2011 at double digit
levels in many countries. The enlarged Assembly believes that more
resources should be channelled to supporting employment.
4. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the OECD’s September interim
assessment, based on recent indicators to be taken with due caution,
that a tentative recovery has begun. Such signs of recovery identified by
the OECD include, in the United States, stronger than expected retail
sales and manufacturing orders and a slowing of the rise in the
number of unemployment benefit claims, together with more positive
indicators of confidence among manufacturers and consumers, also
apparent to a degree in Europe, with better than expected second-quarter
growth figures. Although financial market conditions have shown
improvements, concerns remain about the health of the banking sector.
5. The enlarged Assembly is concerned by the OECD’s warning about
the generally deteriorating state of member countries’ public finances,
with debt ratios in some that have reached record and unsustainable
levels. It urges the OECD and its member states and those of the
Council of Europe, as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
to monitor the situation closely with a view to bringing the situation
under control as soon as the financial and economic crisis permits.
In the meantime, member states should pursue or resume the process
of structural reform designed to return their economies to a sound
footing in order to position themselves better to withstand future
crises.
6. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the OECD’s “Strategic Response
to the Crisis” designed to bring forward proposals in support of
G20 action to counter the effects of the recession in a range of
areas, notably the resolution of the financial sector crisis, corporate
governance, pensions and financial education, as well as strategies
for maintaining open markets and measures to improve tax transparency
and co-operation. The enlarged Assembly underlines the particular
importance of international co-operation with a view to strengthening
supervision of the financial sector and invites the OECD, in co-ordination
with the other international economic and financial institutions
concerned, to pursue vigorously its efforts to help end the crisis and
to prevent such episodes in the future.
7. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the conclusions of the OECD
Ministerial Council meeting of 24 and 25 June 2009, adopted by the
OECD member states and accession countries and relevant for all
open market economies, and the strong emphasis they place on implementing
structural reforms needed to transform the current policy-driven
recovery into self-sustained growth.
8. The enlarged Assembly encourages the member countries of the
Council of Europe and the OECD to take account of the significant
input by the OECD to the G8 process, which involves substantive
co-operation in areas ranging from taxation and market integrity
to development. At their summit held in L’Aquila from 8 to 10 July
2009, the G8 leaders welcomed the continuing support provided by
the OECD to the G8+G5 process through its analytical contributions
and the work of the OECD’s Heiligendamm L’Aquila Process Support
Unit, which will continue to focus on investment, innovation, energy
and development, and will start addressing vulnerable states and
food security.
9. In particular, the 2009 G8 Summit welcomed the OECD’s work
on tax transparency and asked the OECD to continue its efforts by
expanding participation in the Global Forum on Transparency and
Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, establishing a peer-review
process, considering a multilateral approach for the exchange of
information and developing a set of effective countermeasures. The
global forum has since met and established the peer-review mechanism.
In this context, the enlarged Parliamentary Assembly urges the OECD
and the Council of Europe to update the Convention on Mutual Administrative
Assistance in Tax Matters (ETS No. 127). The enlarged Assembly also
emphasises that in the matter of tax information exchange agreements,
it should be made quite clear that respect for normal bank confidentiality
must be the rule, and that only in cases of tax fraud or other criminal
activity should it be lifted. The enlarged Assembly also asks the OECD
to study the effectiveness of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement
system in relation to the claims made for it.
10. The enlarged Assembly encourages the OECD to reflect further
as to the nature and operation of today’s market economy and that
of financial markets in facilitating the production of goods and
services, the implications of government ownership of the means
of production, and the nature of an economic and financial system
based on sound and sustainable principles. The enlarged Assembly
also calls on the OECD to make a detailed study and recommendations
concerning the global imbalances, for example as between China and the
United States in savings, consumption and investment rates, that
contributed to the present crisis and which still may not be resolved.
Taking note of both the serious effects of the downturn on middle-income economies,
including those in central and eastern Europe, and of the important
role of the emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia
and South Africa in the global economy, the enlarged Assembly invites the
OECD to expand its coverage of these economies in its work.
11. The enlarged Assembly notes with concern that the OECD forecasts
a staggering 16% drop in world trade in 2009 compared to 2008 and
urges all countries to avoid any steps, including domestic support measures,
that could provoke protectionist reactions, and to maintain open
markets and free trade. While a successful completion of the Doha
Round trade negotiations would be welcome, its impact on the crisis
and its development dimension are still unclear. Many bilateral
and multilateral trade agreements contain commitments that circumscribe
the ability of countries to respond to the current crisis with appropriate regulatory,
structural, and macroeconomic reforms and rescue packages, and may
have exposed them unnecessarily to the contagion from the failures
elsewhere in the global economic system. In this context, the enlarged
Assembly welcomes the promising results of the OECD’s co-operation
with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in promoting assistance
for the low-income countries with a view to increasing their trading capacity.
Developing countries especially need policy frameworks that can
help protect them from regulatory and macroeconomic failures in
systemically significant countries.
12. The enlarged Assembly urges the OECD to investigate the role
its past policy advice played regarding the vulnerability of monetary,
financial and economic systems to crises. It asks the OECD to present
the results to the Parliamentary Assembly within ten months. This
investigation could provide valuable lessons for the OECD in order
to improve its future policy advice.
13. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the OECD's efforts to promote
international investment under such principles as non-discrimination,
and encourages the OECD to continue to monitor and report on international investment
measures, in co-operation with the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the WTO and the IMF, as well as
under the Freedom of Investment Project.
14. The enlarged Assembly notes with satisfaction that in 2008,
total net official development assistance from members of the OECD’s
Development Assistance Committee increased by 10.2% in real terms
to US$119.8 billion, the highest ever recorded in dollar terms.
However, this represents only 0.3% of members’ combined Gross National
Income, well short of the United Nations target of 0.7%. The enlarged
Assembly welcomes OECD’s new partnership with the African Development
Bank to support the efforts of African governments and business
to fight bribery and corruption and enhance corporate integrity.
The enlarged Assembly stresses the importance of the OECD’s work
to evaluate and improve the results and effectiveness of aid, in
line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and
the Accra Agenda for Action (2008).
15. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the work of the International
Energy Agency (IEA), within the OECD framework, to forecast energy
needs and promote rational energy policies. It notes and endorses
the IEA’s call for massive investment in energy infrastructure to
maintain long-term energy supply, not only in oil and gas but especially
in non-fossil fuel alternatives, for increasing energy efficiency
and for maximising energy security through diversification of the
energy mix.
Social and health policy
16. The enlarged Assembly is deeply
concerned by the growing unemployment rate in the OECD countries, which
is projected to rise through 2010, approaching a new post-war high
of 10% with 57 million unemployed, according to the “2009 OECD Employment
Outlook” report. In this regard,
the enlarged Assembly welcomes the OECD Restated Jobs Strategy,
a tool of current relevance which provides a framework for assessing
policy responses to support those most affected by the economic
downturn. Attention should remain focused on vulnerable groups particularly
affected by the crisis: youth, immigrants, low-skilled and older
workers and those with temporary contracts, who may all become trapped
into long-term unemployment. In addition, both academics and policy
makers should pay special attention to the situation of families
and propose concrete support measures when formulating social cohesion
strategies and planning a response to the current crisis.
17. Furthermore, considering that people in lower socio-economic
groups tend to have higher rates of disease, disability and mortality,
the enlarged Assembly encourages the OECD to further examine national prevention
health-care and health-promotion policies aimed at reducing inequalities
in health status and ensuring adequate or equal access based on
need.
Environment and agriculture
18. The enlarged Assembly expresses
its concern about the effects of the economic crisis on the environment
in general, and invites states to continue their efforts to reduce
the risks resulting from climate change and to ensure that the development
of renewable energies is not neglected for economic reasons. It takes
this opportunity to welcome the adoption, at the meeting of the
OECD Council at ministerial level on 25 June 2009, of the "Declaration
on Green Growth", which invites the OECD to draw up a green growth
strategy in order to achieve economic recovery and environmentally
and socially sustainable economic growth.
19. The enlarged Assembly welcomes the OECD’s work on the economics
of climate change as an important contribution to the ongoing international
negotiations, helping countries to put the follow-up agreement to
the Kyoto Protocol, designed to regulate climate change post-2012,
onto a solid economic footing and to put in place cost-effective
policies for tackling climate change.
Migration and population
20. The enlarged Assembly commends
the work undertaken by the OECD in seeking responsive, fair and effective
migration and integration policies that could adjust to the current
crisis and beyond. It encourages the OECD to invite its members
to step up efforts towards working out functional, coherent and
long-term migration management policies with a view to maximising
the benefits of migration. Channels of regular migration should remain
open with a view to meeting continued demand for migrant workers,
thus helping to prevent irregular migration and trafficking in human
beings.
21. The enlarged Assembly remains particularly concerned about
the protection of the rights of migrants and equality of treatment
during the economic downturn and, to this end, calls upon the OECD
to seek guarantees from its member countries that the rights of
migrants are adequately and effectively protected in terms of human
rights, working and living conditions, as well as in the event of
loss of employment, and that migrants are offered adequate protection
from any form of discrimination and xenophobia.
22. The enlarged Assembly urges the governments of OECD countries
to strengthen their co-operation with developing countries, including
by promoting measures to facilitate remittance flows through initiatives
of tax deductibility of both remittances and money placed in special
savings accounts to support development projects; by reducing obstacles
to returns through improved assistance, greater protection of social
rights and transformation of the potential of these returned migrants
into brain gain; and by addressing the risks of brain drain through
responsible recruitment policies.
23. The enlarged Assembly notes with concern the increasing hostility
to migration and immigrants in public opinion. It therefore encourages
the OECD to join efforts and support awareness-raising projects,
in particular through public media, about the valuable economic
and social contributions made by migrants. Additionally, it encourages
the OECD to work with civil society groups, and notably with diaspora
associations, with a view to challenging the stigmatisation of migrant
workers.
Education and science
24. The enlarged Assembly welcomes
the organisation of a meeting with the Governing Board of the Programme
for International Student Assessment of the OECD and the International
Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement in order
to explore the pedagogical and ideological grounds of their work
and examine the possibility of expanding the scope of their assessment
to include civic awareness, creative skills and cultural education.
25. The enlarged Assembly again encourages the OECD to pursue
its studies on the efficiency of teaching and learning processes
in order to formulate proposals to reverse the existing trend of
increased educational expenditure with no improvement in educational
results. Improving the efficiency of learning processes is essential
in order to tackle the current insufficiency in adult competencies
and to ensure the sustainability of adequate lifelong learning and
continuing education systems.
26. The enlarged Assembly encourages the OECD to consider looking
into entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour treated as a factor
of increasing the knowledge-based model of economy as – in particular
in countries with more centralised economies – all activities geared
to improving entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour, especially
in the younger generations, could be important and effective factors
for both economic and social growth.