Madrid, 28/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - It is not enough to criticise the social situation in Europe - “forceful actions” also need to be taken, said Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor at the conference organised in Madrid for the 40th anniversary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Monday 28 January. Among other issues, Andor argued for the youth employment package that was tabled last December, and he called on the 27 heads of state and government to make an appropriate decision on the multiannual financial framework in a few days' time, so as to support the actions that have been undertaken by the European Commission. All measures that can bring employment must be able to be supported by a solid European social fund, which is visible and given guaranteed financing for the next programming period, he said. Andor also recalled his determination to create a social dimension in EMU, which would be given a social monitoring tool on the same level as the macroeconomic monitoring mechanism. And he said he was determined to promise the social partners greater involvement under the European semester.
George Dassis from Greece, the leader of the Labour Group at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), was surprised at the discordance between the speeches of Andor, directed towards workers' rights, and on the other hand, that of the troika (European Commission, ECB and IMF). The troika could not care less about social Europe and solidarity - with the exception of the IMF, said David Begg, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. This opinion was shared by union representatives that came from countries that are not under financial assistance, like Anne Demelenne from Belgium, the general secretary of the FGTB, who asked when Andor would be put on an equal footing with Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.
In the view of the unions, this is accompanied by the sad choice of protecting those responsible for the crisis. The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, rejected “the illusory argument that reductions in public spending will enable investor confidence to be won”. In his opinion, citizens have to put up with numerous miserable cuts, but investors are still not hurrying to the doors of Europe. And he launched an appeal to the European Council: “It is not enough to declare that €120 million needs to be released for growth. This money also needs to be invested in projects”.
The unions are also concerned about the fast rise of the extreme right in several countries and the distance taken by citizens with regard to the EU, when - according to Maria Fatima Banez Garcia, the Spanish minister for employment - it is “in these difficult times that the European Union is the most important. We need more Europe and more solidarity” (our translation throughout). (EL/transl.fl)