According to media reports, during a visit to Stockholm, Mr McCreevy attacked the Swedish government’s support for long-established Swedish collective agreement procedures that establish equal treatment for all workers, regardless of country of origin. In a letter to Mr Barroso, the ETUC demanded to know whether his remarks reflect the views of the Commission.

“There are more obligations on the Commission than just the pursuit of the internal market,” declared ETUC General Secretary John Monks, “such as the obligation to promote social dialogue, as well as the fundamental social rights laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

“Recently, the EU and social partners celebrated 20 years of European Social Dialogue. Now, however, we find that the very basic tools for proper social dialogue, i.e. collective bargaining and industrial action, are put into question.”

Mr McCreevy reportedly said he would be opposing the Swedish government and trade unions in a forthcoming case in the European Court of Justice, claiming that trade union action on behalf of underpaid Latvian building workers on a site in Vaxholm, Sweden, was counter to EU free movement of services. Commented John Monks: “Citizens and workers, in Sweden and the new Member States, have embarked upon the enlargement process north and eastwards in the understanding that this would mean adherence to the values of a social Europe, where economic and social development go hand in hand, and the levelling upwards of living and working conditions, and full respect for national industrial relations systems.”