Brussels, 11/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Reacting to the ruling of a Paris court to suspend the Marks and Spencer group decision to close 18 French outlets (which will lead to the loss of 1,700 jobs by the end of the year), the European Commissioner for Social Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, said: The decision of the French court sends a "positive political message". In the new economic environment, business must look "not only to shareholders but to its main stakeholders", she stressed (see yesterday's EUROPE p.10, for the reaction of ETUC's Secretary General, Emilio Gabaglio).
In the wake of the Marks & Spencer controversy (see EUROPE of 6 April p.17), the Secretary General of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI), Bernd Rupp, has made an urgent appeal for the creation of a « European trade union monitoring committee » to consider a "European-wide flanking business plan" to guarantee staff are kept on in the context of plans to resort to franchising systems". Bernd Rupp says the way Marks & Spencer announced the closure of its stores on the continent is quite « paradoxical at a time when the broadening of the European social dialogue is a cornerstone of the European social model we are all so anxious to see emerge ".