Brussels, 15/03/2007
Inequalities persist and are getting worse in the European Union, even if it remains the area of least inequality compared with other parts of the world, thanks largely to the widespread existence of social protection systems, public services, the social dialogue and trade unions working to guarantee mutual solidarity.
During this first fifty years, the EU has increasingly committed itself to high levels of social protection, social justice and equal opportunities for all. The recognition of the European social dialogue and the social policy work programme represented key stages on the road to a more social Europe and the establishment of a European Social Model. Other important social legislation has followed, for example on health and safety in the workplace, non-discrimination, gender equality, the right to information and consultation and the creation of European Works Councils.
As a European social partner, the ETUC has shown itself to be a mature partner in the formulation of European policy.
“However, since the end of the 1990s progress has stalled, threatening to undermine citizens's confidence in the European project. The EU needs an ambitious programme for a sustainable answer to the rise in precarious work and to unemployment. It must find a fair way to deal with the growth of new, atypical contracts that make workers more vulnerable. We insist on the need for more, and above all better jobs. We also call on the EU to find a way out of the existing institutional deadlock on the Constitution, which contains many of the elements needed for developing Social Europe - in particular the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which must remain in the Constitutional Treaty,” declared ETUC General Secretary John Monks.
“The ETUC has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the lack of a social dimension in the European internal market: the failure to scrap the opt-out from the Working Time Directive, and the original 'Bolkestein' Directive have been the worst examples. The EU must now urgently adopt the draft directive guaranteeing fair treatment for temporary agency staff, and the European Commission should present proposals on the protection of new forms of atypical work. High-quality public services are another issue that must not be neglected".
“Recent European debates have shown the importance of a common energy strategy, to safeguard jobs and supply. At the same time, climate change must be a priority for the decades to come, not only from the environmental point of view but also because of new employment and social cohesion opportunities.”
Fifty years after the signature of the Treaty of Rome, it is more important than ever to recognise that the social dimension of Europe represents an essential human investment and that social policy is just as important as economic policy.
- Attached: ETUC declaration on the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome
