Brussels, 21/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Threatening social rights, as basic as the right to free collective bargaining, is a matter of great concern and not the right response to the current crisis, says the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in a letter sent to heads of state and government, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Thursday 20 October. As the European Council of 23 October beckons, the ETUC says in its letter that it is worried that “bank bail outs are once again the order of the day - the necessary regulation of financial market is still missing”. Although they state that they are ready to support EU initiatives to find a way out of the crisis, the unions warn that they will use the wage guarantee clause to oppose any attempt to make use of the new procedure on excessive deficits “to weaken wage formation systems, to put pressure on wage and collective bargaining outcomes or to impose labour market reforms”, according to an ETUC statement adopted by the Executive Committee on Wednesday 19 October. The ETUC called for greater solidarity at European level, for example, through eurobonds or loan guarantees through the EFSF and better coordination of national economic policies, so that austerity packages are not the only response to the crisis which stems largely from the dealings of the financial sector. (JK/transl.rt)