10/09/2018 (Agence Europe) – Two days ahead of the State of the Union address by the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) urged him in a press release published on Monday 10 September to take action in favour of ‘social justice’ in the run-up to the European elections. The ETUC secretary general, Luca Visentini, said it was urgent to constitute an alliance to protect democracy from the populists and far right. The way he sees it, "the Europe that protects" cannot be reduced to security, defence and external borders. He therefore calls for tangible action to implement the European platform of social rights, notably to tackle the pay gap between men and women in East and West of the EU, and to make faster progress on the various items of draft legislation underway. (PH)