Brussels, 25/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - In order to reiterate the importance of social Europe, when the Commission seems to class it and, for example, environmental Europe some way below the Europe of competitiveness, the Secretary General of the European Confederation of Trade Unions (ETUC), John Monks, has turned crusader and planned several high-level meetings to present the “Unions' memorandum for the Luxembourg Presidency” and put the case for the importance of social Europe. “Europe's credibility with the citizens is at stake, as is popular support for the constitutional treaty”, said John Monks at his meeting in Brussels on 24 January with the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, also attended by UNICE Secretary General Philippe de Buck, who stressed the importance of breathing new life into the Lisbon Strategy. Mr Monks repeated ETUC's firm support for “more growth, more jobs, and keeping the European social model”. The main recommendations of the unions' memorandum centre on the social agenda 2006-2013, services, the working time directive, gender equality, temporary employment agencies, the revision of the directive on the European Works' Council, health and safety at work, social protection and the financial perspectives (EUROPE will return to the recommendations laid out in this document).
This message will be sent out by ETUC's confederal Secretary, Rainer Hofmann, to Commissioners Spidla (Social Affairs) and Verheugen (Industry) on 26 January.
On 27 January, Monks will meet the President of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Luxembourg. They will discuss the priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency, and, unsurprisingly, the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy.
In Paris last week, the Secretary General met President Jacques Chirac. “We found areas of agreement on the importance of social Europe and the need for this to be properly included in the Lisbon Strategy and on the agenda of the forthcoming Spring Summit, to be held in Brussels at the end of March”, declared John Monks at the end of the meeting. Talks also centred on the “Services” directive, and on the need to ensure that there are no moves towards social dumping within the single market, and for workers to enjoy adequate protection against unfair competition. As for the European Constitution, President Chirac and John Monks recognised that “the progress of social Europe should be a central theme of debates, to guarantee positive results in the referendums to be held”.