In his opening speech at the Congress of the European Trade Union Confederation on Tuesday 21 May, Luca Visentini, the Secretary General of the trade union organisation, thanked the current President of the European Commission for putting the social issue back on the European policy agenda.
"Thank you Jean-Claude, because you have shown that Europe can be a force for social progress", said the Secretary General during his speech, who once again tackles his predecessor and "the wasted years of austerity, and at the hands of the neo-liberal Barroso Commission".
In particular, the trade unionist welcomed the interinstitutional proclamation of the European pillar of social rights and, above all, its concrete translation into legislative acts, citing the Posted Workers Directive (although launched before the proclamation), the Directive on work-life balance, the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, the creation of a European Labour Authority, and the various revisions to the Directive on exposure at work to carcinogens or mutagens.
Nevertheless, social Europe remains to be built, according to him, and remains a necessity to counter the rising forces of populism and nationalism. For Mr Visentini, there are three challenges facing the social partners: - to fight to defend social dialogue, and even to introduce it in some Member States (a reference to the backlash against the social partners in Austria in particular); - to be genuinely involved in the budgetary process 'European Semester'; - to ensure that agreements between the social partners are transposed into European legislation (see other news).
In addition, the Secretary General outlined the actions to be taken during the next mandate, whether in the field of combating climate change and the challenges facing the increasing digitisation of our economies or the need to provide the EU with a real industrial policy. He called for reform of company law and competition rules and for greater worker participation in economic decisions. Finally, one of the major battles ahead will be to increase wages and ensure that equal treatment for the self-employed is effectively applied, he said.
At the end of this congress, which will last until Friday 24 May, a new president will be elected - probably Laurent Berger (Secretary General of the Confédération française démocratique du travail - CFDT) - and the current Secretary General should be reappointed. The Confederation's manifesto and action programme should also be adopted. Their draft versions can be consulted by following the following links: https://bit.ly/2Qgs81s (manifesto); https://bit.ly/2QnoYcF (action programme). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)