PES

The Party of European Socialists is planning to have a strong presence at the European Trade Union Confederation ‘Fight the crisis: put the people first’ demonstration in Brussels today.

Unfortunately I can’t be there in person but our Party’s Secretary General Philip Cordery will lead our delegation which will be joined by European election candidates and party members from Belgium, France and beyond for the march through Brussels city centre.

The ETUC, under the leadership of my good friend John Monks, has an excellent declaration demanding a ‘New Social Deal for Europe’. I completely agree that Europe needs a New Social Deal.

I have met many trade unionists from France, from my own country Denmark and from other countries in recent weeks who are deeply worried about their jobs and their future. The crisis is a devastating blow, and one which comes after many difficult years in which the gap between rich and poor has been getting bigger, and in which trade union and workers’ rights have been undermined in the name of competitiveness. Unemployment is set to hit 27 million next year across Europe. It’s simply unacceptable.

And what has the European Commission been doing? Under the conservative leadership of José Manuel Barroso it has refused to sort out the confusion about workers rights and collective agreements created by recent European Court of Justice judgements. It is not making the case for new investments to safeguard jobs and create new employment despite the fact that the current, and inadequate, European Recovery Plan was made last year before the economy started going into reverse. Instead Barroso prefers to make out that the Recovery Plan is much bigger than it really is! The recent EU so-called Employment Summit was a non-event that proposed no serious steps to safeguard jobs or to create new ones.

It’s about time Europe showed some leadership in tackling the crisis and acknowledged that workers rights and social justice should always come before the single market. That’s why the ETUC is right to call for a New Social Deal for Europe.

Many of the demands made by the ETUC, such as an expanded recovery programme, effective regulation of financial markets and equal pay for posted workers, are already in our PES manifesto for the European elections. Not only are the ETUC’s demands reflected in our manifesto but several of them are featured in the actions we demand should be taken in the first 100 days of the new European Parliament. That’s why we need a stronger PES in the European Parliament after the June 7 elections.

The European Conservatives have the cheek to claim in their manifesto that they stress the importance of workers rights and trade unions. They have a funny way of showing it! But I can tell you in all seriousness that at the Party of European Socialists we really do value our relationship with the ETUC.

As a former trade unionist, and as President of the Party of European Socialists, I am with you, and I am delighted that there will be many PES party members shoulder to shoulder with the trade union movement on today’s demonstration.