Partnership criteria
Roberto Bissio, Social Watch
The EU has announced its intention to sign “framework partnership agreements” with some global “non-state actors” of its choice.
In order to apply the interested parties have to show their current strategy plan and they have to demonstrate:
– commitment with the values of democracy and human rights,
– no person “having powers of representation, decision making or control over them” has been convicted for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering or any other illegal activity,
– they are in compliance with their obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or taxes in each and every country where they operate.
And in order to prove that all is in order they have to submit three years of audited accounts in every country where they are active, as well as a complete list of “affiliated entities” understood as “entities directly or indirectly controlled by the beneficiary (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries)” or “entities controlled by an entity controlled by the beneficiary (granddaughter companies) and further tiers of control” or “entities directly or indirectly controlling the beneficiary (parent companies)” or “entities under the same direct or indirect control as the beneficiary (sister companies)”.
Shouldn’t this criteria, applied by the EU to non-profit civil society organisations, be applied by the UN to the many for profit corporations with which it is signing “partnerships” such as Uber (found guilty of violating workers’ rights) or Barclays (money laundering and tax evasion) among others?
