31/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On the subject of the future constitution of the trade union world (see EUROPE 9120), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) wishes to specify that “in the context of the merger of ICFTU and WCL into an international organisation, there will be a European-wide council, which will group together all the trade union organisations in Europe and which will cover, from a geographical point of view, the countries of the EU and of EFTA (which are covered by ETUC) but also the countries that are to the east of ETUC's geographic zone, such as Russia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, etc. ETUC is therefore not a geographical part of this pan-European council. The only point in common between the two organisations is that the general secretary of ETUC will also be the general secretary of the pan-European council”.