Brussels, 08/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - In a letter to European Trade Union Confederation Secretary General John Monks, French MEP Francis Wurtz, who leads the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament, has said that he fully shared Mr Monks' concerns about the Commission's approach to trade policy, an approach set out in the communication “Global Europe” (see EUROPE 9278). “The tendency to seek 'to adapt' European rules and standards to the imperatives of 'competitiveness' on the world market is increasingly significant. But everything can be justified by this reasoning: vis-à-vis competition, wages will be still 'too high', working conditions 'inflexible', social and environmental standards 'penalising' for European companies!” he wrote. Regretting “this logic, lethal for any ambition for a 'European model'”, Mr Wurtz called for “a genuine European debate” on the Commission's new trade policy and its impact on internal policies to be held as quickly as possible. (eh)