FIFA immediately backed the EU call, saying it matched its own goal of ensuring that "the International Labour Organization's core labor standards are introduced quickly, consistently and on a sustained basis in Qatar."
Qatari organizers pledged earlier this week that companies building projects for the 2022 World Cup will be forced to guarantee welfare standards for workers.
Rights group Amnesty International has cataloged how some workers in the tiny Gulf nation are exposed to dangerous working conditions, poor living standards and the non-payment of wages.
Some EU legislators say FIFA should have taken action much earlier.
"FIFA must be reminded that it cannot continue to carry on with business-as-usual and brush the major human rights concerns in Qatar under the table," said Barbara Lochbihler, chairwoman of the European Parliament's committee on human rights
"FIFA must belatedly take concrete steps to ensure the preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar do not lead to further human rights violations," she said.
Ten EU nations and three other European nations Russia, Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina have qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, so the EU hopes to exert some leverage in Qatar.
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Follow Raf Casert on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/rcasert
