Brussels, 12/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Platform of European Social NGOs and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) will be organising a conference on 14 March on the subject of, "Making the Market Work for sustainable Development". Emilio Gabaglio, ETUC General Secretary, Ralph Hallo, President of the EEB and Giampiero Alhadeff, President of the Social Platform, will present the Common Platform on the said subject to 150-200 participants, who will be reflecting upon the post-Barcelona architecture, in the presence of a representative from the Spanish Presidency, Lucio Gussetti (the Prodi Cabinet) and Theo Bouwman, President of the EP Social Affairs and Employment Committee. This presentation will be followed by two round table discussions: the first will focus on the quality of employment and life, the second on fiscal and environmental reform.
On 13 March, three organisations will be meeting up separately to fine-tune their position and work out ways of strengthening their co-operation, as they are worried by the "lack of progress" in the elaboration of any plans for putting into place the sustainable development strategy launched at the Gothenburg Summit. They will also be preparing the trade union conference on "Sustainable Development and Employment" that will take place in Seville on 16-18 June, in view of the Johannesburg Summit. Marc Sapir, Director of the European trade union Technical Bureau for Health and Safety (TUTB) stated that they wanted to participate in the implementation of the Gothenburg Strategy and insisted that after the conclusions of the Laeken Summit on the role of social partners in the Spring European Councils, the ETUC wants to see this role extended to every area discussed at the Gothenburg Summit, not just the social and economic fields. Info: site http: //http://www.etuc.org