Copenhagen, 29/10/2007 To be checked against delivery President, delegates, fellow guests: It is a pleasure to return to Denmark, the country which has given the world Hans Christian Andersen, Peter Schmeical and flexicurity. All these have played a significant part in my life at one time or other! Last week at a meeting in Lisbon, the ETUC agreed with Europe’s employers a joint analysis of Europe’s labour markets including flexicurity.

London, 23/10/2007 Chairman, ladies and gentleman, few words can cause so much alarm in the hearts and minds of many trade unionists as 'globalisation'. It conveys a range of meanings, mostly negative. The first meaning is of jobs emigrating to cheap locations.

Brighton, 12/09/2007 Check against delivery President, Congress and honoured guests, it’s with great pleasure that I address the annual Congress of the TUC. It is also a pleasure to see another woman President. I would like to thank you for the invitation. Let me take this opportunity to wish you every success in your debates and discussions.

Brussels, 20/06/2007 To be checked against delivery Friends, a small group of us have just met the President of the Commission, President Barroso. We told him straight No Charter of Fundamental Rights, No Treaty Sans la charte, pas de traité. We told him too that if in a new Treaty the Summit drops the Charter; or if the Summit does not make the Charter binding on member states, then we say no, on dit non, wij zeggen nee, wir sagen nein, to that treaty.

Madrid, 16/06/2007 To be checked against delivery As a student of Spanish history, and an admirer of the role played by the UGT and the Socialist Party throughout Spain's modern history, it is with great pleasure that I join these celebrations to honour the 80th birthday of Nicolas Redondo and his marvellous contribution to trade unionism.

Sofia, 11/05/2007 To be checked against delivery

Stockholm, 8/05/2007 To be checked against delivery My first Congress after my election as General Secretary of the ETUC was the TCO Congress in 2003 and four years later, I am pleased to be back. I am pleased too to see the progress made by Swedish trade unionism in the past 4 years but not so pleased to have to share your apprehension about the harmful changes being made by the current Swedish Government.

Brussels, 03/05/2007 To be checked against delivery I bring the greetings of the ETUC to the Congress of FERPA. I bring the thanks of the ETUC to Luigina de Santis who finishes as your secretary at this Congress. Luigina has been a friendly and effective force for good in the ETUC family. We will miss her and we wish her well in her return to her native country of Italy. I bring the congratulations of the ETUC to your new secretary Bruno COSTANTINI.

Athens, 23/04/2007 To be checked against delivery Chairman, delegates, I am privileged to bring the greetings of the ETUC to this Congress. UNI-Europa, and UNI generally, have gone from strength to strength and play an essential part in European and world trade unionism. The mergers have gone smoothly to my outside but still close eye.

Brussels, 20/04/2007 To be checked against delivery Is it a coincidence that the European countries which are most in line with fulfilling the Lisbon targets - and are also currently among the leaders of the world's economies on OECD statistics - are precisely those with the highest proportion of trade union members and the most extensive collective bargaining systems with good pay and working conditions?

Athens, 17/03/2007 President, friends, I'd like to thank the previous speakers for the warm-up or the windup. It is with great pleasure that I come to the 33rd Congress of the GSEE to bring greetings from the ETUC, to express our appreciation of the support from, and the work of, the GSEE and to pledge to work together in the future. As your slogan says - Trade Unions- Our Strength.

Berlin, 16/03/2007 The ETUC took the initiative to set up the Euromed Trade Union Forum in order to develop and to harmonize trade union policies in the context of the Barcelona process. It is clear to everybody that Barcelona is not a success story. One of the reasons for some failures is that the policies conducted focussed mainly on trade, market and economic reform and security. Social aspects especially, but also employment effects of the structural reforms had been neglected.

Rome, 19/03/2007 To be checked against delivery Colleagues, dear guests, Today's conference is a significant step towards a new culture of trade union cooperation and action all over the European continent.

Westminster, 12/03/2007 To be checked against delivery JM/cd Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to be invited to the All Party Group on the EU to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. This is an important anniversary which pro Europeans should use to celebrate the EU and its achievements, and also to make the case for Britain to be a more positive towards the development of the EU. Tonight I ask you to look forward with me at the next 50 years.

Brussels, 06/03/2007 To be checked against delivery Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to open this conference. I would like to thank the EESC for their support to this event. This conference comes in good time, in view of the Spring Summit which will take place in two days and where heads of states will be asked to take major decisions on the basis of the Commission's proposals contained in the ‘energy and climate change package' recently published by the Commission.

Brussels, 20-21/02/2007 To be checked against delivery Madam Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen You are here to think about the prospects opened up by the low carbon economy and we welcome you to an overheated room we still have some way to go!

Paris, 13/02/2007 To be checked against delivery President, Minister, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to visit this lovely building in this always beautiful city and addressing a question that is highly relevant to the future of Europe and the future of France.

Vienna, 23/01/2007 To be checked against deliver President, friends, I bring the greetings of the ETUC to you and the trade unionists of Austria. You have come through a difficult period and I want to congratulate Rudolf and his colleagues for the way they have steered the organisation through the hard times. It cannot have been easy and in addition the ÖGB was able successfully to host the founding Congress of the new world body - the International TUC which met in Vienna last December.

Brussels, 04-05 December 2006 To be checked against delivery The ETUC subscribes to the Decent Work agenda set down by the ILO in 2000, the four strategic objectives of which (including gender mainstreaming throughout) are - Creating jobs - Guaranteeing rights at work - Spreading social protection - Promoting dialogue and conflict prevention.

Belgrade, 24/11/2006 To be checked against deliver Delegates, 15 years ¨C this is a long time in a man¡¯s life and a short one in the life of a trade union organisation. But that ¡°Nezavisnost¡± did survive since its founding in 1991 ¨C in the middle of the turbulences of the fall of Yougoslavia ¨C this is a remarkable event in the history of the trade union movement in this country. This is remarkable, mainly because of the following:

London, 14/11/2006 Those of you who knew Aneurin Bevan can probably guess his likely reaction to my choice of the title tonight.

Moscow, 14-16/11/2006 To be checked against delivery President, Delegates, Friends. I am glad and honoured to bring you greetings on behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation. Your Congress comes at a time of momentous change in the world trade union Movement. Earlier this month, in Vienna, we saw the birth of a new, united, democratic, International Trade Union Confederation.

Helsinki, 10/11/2006 To be checked against delivery I should like first to thank our Finnish affiliates and BASTUN for organising this important meeting, the first, I think at this level, in the context of EU-Russia trade union relations. The commitment of SAK, STTK and AKAVA to involving trade unions in EU foreign policy development is exemplary. Just a few weeks ago, they did us proud in organising a very successful trade union conference with our colleagues from Asia in relation to the ASEM Summit.

Vienna, 1-3 November 2006 To be checked against delivery I am honoured to bring the very best wishes of the European TUC to our new International Trade Union Confederation. As many speakers have already pointed out, this is an historic occasion. I am glad and proud that the European trade union Movement has played a part, both as a template and as a midwife - if I may mix the images - in its achievement.

Brussels, 30 October 2006 To be checked against delivery