Oslo, 10/10/2006 To be checked against delivery Thank you for the opportunity to attend and address this YS conference. Europe is not always top of a list of the people of Norway's favourite ideas. So an opportunity to talk about its significance and importance to working people in our continent and in Norway is welcome.

Milan, 01/10/2006 To be checked against delivery Cari compagni e compagne, è un grande piacere, per me, essere qui con voi per questa importante occasione : il centenario della CGIL. A century is an extraordinary occasion to appreciate the history of the most important Union in the World! I confess that I say that to all the girls, to all the unions especially those who have their 100th birthday. It is rare to find, in our world, a trade union not only of such an venerable age but also one with the rich history of CGIL.

Szczecin, 28/09/2006 To be checked against delivery President, friends, it is a great honour for me to come to the city of Szczecin, one of the birthplaces of the Solidarnosc and therefore of free, independent trade unionism. 26 years after the momentous events of 1980, I pay tribute today to the courageous, pioneer trade unionists of Szczecin to whom democracy owes so much. I am not of course forgetting what happened in Gdansk and other centres but no-one should forget either the contribution made by workers of this city.

Helsinki,8/09/2006 To be checked against delivery At a recent meeting with Eero Heinäluoma, I was asked by the Finnish Presidency to address today the questions of boosting Europe's investment in R&D and innovation. Finland has a good record, but outside a small number of countries and / or sectors, pre-eminently, pharmaceuticals, investment levels are worryingly low.

Helsinki, 08 September 2006 To be checked against delivery I should like first to thank our Finnish affiliates (SAK, AKAVA, STTK) for organising this important meeting, and for the opportunity to meet high Government representatives, as one has come to expect in this country, a home to social dialogue. The Asia-Europe Meetings process is now 10 years old. So this is a good opportunity to take stock, and to look to the future.

Berlin, 30/08/2006 To be checked against delivery Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends and colleagues, Mitbestimmung: a word that, translated into other languages, is producing misunderstandings and misinterpretations. The most evident example is the long-lasting tradition of the French to translate Mitbestimmung into “co-gestion”. If you transfer that term into English, Mitbestimmung becomes co-management.

Rome, 28/06/2006 To be checked against delivery President, delegates, fellow guests, thank you for this invitation to tell you about the ETUC's ambitions for a stronger Europe and for a strong ETUC. For us, Europe is essential to our collective futures. An ambitious, powerful ETUC must be a central ingredient.

Helsinki, 05/06/2006 To be checked against delivery President, delegates, fellow guests. As Lauri knows, my Finnish is excellent but my English is better. If you believe all that, you will believe anything! So with some regret, I proceed in my mother tongue of English and must leave the language of Sami Hyypia to you. I have long admired this trade union federation and its affiliates. The Nordic model, and its Finnish variant, is the most successful trade union model anywhere in the world.

Berlin, 24/05/2006 To be checked against delivery Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, Mein Deutsch ist sehr gut. Mein Englisch aber ist etwas besser. Deshalb bitte ich Euch um Nachsicht, wenn ich in meiner Muttersprache zu Euch spreche. Delegates, Allow me to go straight forward to some key issues that are of great importance for all of us.

Prague, 07-08/04/2006 To be checked against delivery It is with pleasure that I bring the greetings of the ETUC to the Congress of CMKOS. CMKOS will always have a special place in my affections as I was elected as ETUC General Secretary in Prague in 2003 - a Congress which you hosted impressively.

Rimini, 01/03/2006 To be checked against delivery Secretary General, friends and comrades. It is with pride and pleasure that I represent the ETUC at the CGIL Congress in Rimini. Special pride because the ETUC has had a big success recently in its campaign against the Bolkestein Directive. Pleasure because I am learning all the time about the special contribution that the CGIL and our other Italian affiliates - CISL and UIL - make to trade unionism in Italy, Europe and the world.

London, 25/02/2006 To be checked against delivery I am glad of the opportunity to share with you today a few thoughts about European trade unions' relations with Latin America, the Caribbean and notably Cuba. The ETUC's links with trade union organisations in the region has intensified over time. The historic ties of our Spanish and Portuguese members in particular have been a great asset on which to build the relationship for the European trade union Movement as a whole.

Strasbourg, 14/02/2006 To be checked against delivery Chers amis, Chers collègues, Merci à tous d'être venus à Strasbourg pour montrer au Parlement européen ce que nous pensons de la directive Bolkestein. Voilà ce que nous en pensons !!! (throw paper on the floor). Au début de cette campagne, la CES s'est donnée pour objectif le retrait ou un changement fondamental du texte initial!

Palermo, 18/01/2006 To be checked against delivery I am grateful to the CGIL for the opportunity to visit Palermo and Sicily, to come to one of Europe's great crossroads, and to address you today on taking Europe's forward. 2005 was a bad year for Europe. A few years ago, the Queen of England reflecting on the bedroom antics of her children, said that the year in question had been an “annus horribilis”. Well 2005 was such an “annus horribilis” for the European Union. There were several reasons:

Barcelona, 6-7/11/2005 To be checked against delivery Dear friends, It has been with a great interest that I have followed presentations and debates at this 3rd General Assembly of the Euromed Trade Union Forum. The setting up of this structure has been done in close cooperation and together with the ICFTU in 1999, and associating ICATU and USTMA. Let me recall the main reason for this initiative: it was to give a voice to the world of Labour in the context of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation of the Barcelona process.

Brussels, 29/09/2005 To be checked against delivery I have listened with great attention to the previous speakers and especially to the “founding fathers” of the European Social Dialogue, a feature of the European social model that distinguishes Europe from the rest of the world.

Madrid, 01/06/2005 To be checked against delivery President, It is a special pleasure for me to be present with you at the Congress of the UGT, and to be with my friend and colleague, the President of the ETUC, Candido Mendez. In the two years, we have been working together, I have developed tremendous respect and affection for Candido - feelings which, by the way, are general within the European trade union world. He is a credit to the ETUC and to the UGT and to Spain.

London, 09/05/2005 To be checked against delivery It's almost 20 years since I first became associated with the IPA. For me the partnership journey was a response to the wreckage of the miners' strike of 1984/85 and the loss and diminution of large swathes of UK manufacturing (and trade union membership). There was little doubt in my mind that the adversarial model of industrial relations was playing a major part - not the only part, not in most cases the biggest part - but a major part nevertheless in the UK's industrial decline.

Dundee, 18/04/2005 To be checked against delivery I bring there greetings from the European TUC to the Scottish TUC. Very understandably the emphasis here is on the General Election on May 5. Those of us who lived and worked for the Movement through the dark days of the 80s and 90s will know how important this election - any general election - is for the trade unionism.

Brussels, 14/04/2005 (Speech) To be checked against delivery JM/cd History European social dialogue practices have over time become more diversified and broader in scope. At every step of the way, the ETUC has sought to play a positive and pro-active role.

Dublin, 17/02/2005 Getting to know the new EU constitution - Pleasure to meet the Irish Forum on Europe which has done so much to set a more calm, balanced tone in the Irish debates on Europe since the first Nice referendum was lost. - You have your admirers on the other side of the Irish Sea where European debates are anything but calm and balanced.

Maastricht, 08/07/2004 Thanks. We in the ETUC are looking forward to this Dutch Presidency. Dutch Presidencies have traditionally been well regarded and of course our meeting here in Maastricht today is a powerful reminder of those previous talks 12 years ago which produced the Maastricht Treaty. Which direction for social Europe is the underlying question posed by the discussion paper. This is a big question and needs to be considered carefully.