Brussels, 17/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Speaking to the press in Brussels just a few days from the Spring Summit, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), John Monks, again expressed the concern felt by the trade union world for growth and employment in Europe (EUROPE of 4 March, p.17) and calls on the Heads of State and Government to see to it that “Social Europe is placed at the heart of the Lisbon Strategy” in order to “make citizens rally to the European project”. This will be the message of the demonstration to be held on 19 March by over 50,000 trade unionists throughout Europe in favour of employment and social rights and against the Bolkestein directive. “As it is, the directive is the clumsiest political document proposed by the Commission for a long while”, John Monks said, explaining that ETUC fears “further deregulation of the employment market, leaving the door wide open to social dumping and a threat for public services”. John Monks calls for fundamental changes to be made to the proposal “essentially on the principle of the country of origin”. “ETUC is a single market for services but not at the expense of national and European social norms, labour laws, services of general interest, security and collective agreements (…). ETUC will pursue its efforts in favour of an acceptable directive which protects workers rights”, John Monks added, saying that he supported withdrawal of the Bolkestein Directive if no fundamental change is made to it. “Our message is the following: let us try to following the road to revision indicated by the new Commission. Let us not invoke the spirit of the former directive, but move forward. President Chirac has the same message”, John Monks concluded. (President Chirac hoped the directive would be re-examined from every angle, as did Chancellor Schröder: yesterday's EUROPE, p.8).
During the meeting of the ETUC management committee, on 16 March in Brussels, the president of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he supported “liberalisation of services but not social dumping”. “As it is, the directive will not get through”, he said (yesterday's EUROPE; p.7). Juncker restated his attachment to maintaining a balance in the Lisbon strategy and stressed that “competitiveness and growth are not an end in themselves” but must promote social cohesion. An ETUC press release points out that the management committee rejected the remarks by President Barroso at the Lisbon Council (EUROPE of 15 March, p.9) on the Bolkestein Directive. The directive in question has its supporters and its detractors but “describing trade unions as reactionary when they express their concern about the directive is an insult to them”, the press release states.