ETUC calls on EU Member States not to throw out crucial elements of the European Constitution
Today, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel leads top-level negotiations on the future of the European Constitutional Treaty, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) reminds EU leaders of the potentially dangerous consequences of abandoning parts of the draft Constitution that matter most to European citizens and workers.
The ETUC reiterates its support for the Constitution as already ratified by 18 EU Member States, and emphasises that any new proposal must be a step forward for Social Europe as well.
Above all, the ETUC opposes removing or weakening Part 2 of the Constitution, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which represents the most significant advance for European citizens and must be made legally binding at the earliest opportunity.
"Social provisions and objectives that reinforce the role of the social partners are indispensable if workers around Europe are to support a compromise proposal," said ETUC General Secretary John Monks. "We need a stronger social dimension that meets concerns about issues like job security, restructuring and globalisation."
The ETUC would support:
adding a social declaration and a social protocol to the Constitution,
more enhanced cooperation, for example in the eurozone, to avoid social progress in some countries being blocked by others.
The ETUC regrets the fact that these important negotiations are going on behind closed doors, with no direct input from European civil society or the social partners.
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