Brussels, 09/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - Speaking at a conference on “Competitiveness in a global economy - A challenge to trade discipline”, jointly organised in Brussels on 8 November by European industry and trade unions, ETUC General Secretary John Monks said that “the European Union must maintain and improve its trade defence instruments. They are a critical element of the European Union strategy for growth and employment. They do not safeguard Community interest only, but social progress worldwide”.
The Commission proposals to redefine its trade defence instruments in an ever-changing global economy are of concern to trade unionists, Monks said. “If they are adopted, some would undermine one of the important foundations of European integration, that is the internal market,” he stated, pointing out that the internal market means free and fair competition between member states and the rejection of social and environmental dumping. The horizontal social clause in the new Lisbon Treaty will reinforce this point. “The European Union must defend these values at home and beyond its borders. If it fails to do so, it will serve as an intermediary for an unfair and brutal globalisation, and workers worldwide will end up paying the price. We do not want that kind of globalisation” Monks emphasised. The European Commission says that the changing global economy requires a redefinition of our trade defence instruments; it also claims that it is increasingly difficult for member states to come to consensus, Monks went on. Yet, he added, the experts who had spoken at that same conference had said that the current system of trade defence instruments was sufficiently flexible to take account of changes in the global economy. The responses to the Green Paper showed that the instruments in place had worked correctly until now and did not need a fundamental overhaul, he stated.
Workers and trade unions had to be more involved in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy procedures. “We want no half measures: European workers must have the right to defend themselves by being authorised to lodge complaints and to participate fully in all stages of investigations. That is an opportunity offered to workers in the United States. We want nothing less,” he said, adding that the debates that had taken place at the conference had demonstrated that the trade defence instruments would “remain indispensable until a global competition law equivalent to European law has been put in place, with an authority in charge of enforcing it”. He concluded: “At a time when we are seeking support from citizens for a new European treaty, it is crucial that the European Union continues to play its role as a force for social progress”. (G.B.)