by Kate Holman in Brussels
A EUROPEAN employment “summit” – flagged up in advance as an opportunity to agree on joint action to counter the social and economic impact of the downturn across Europe – ended last week in disappointment and recriminations.
The meeting, in Prague, produced a set of “messages” urging member states to keep people in jobs, where necessary by adjusting working hours, retraining, and promoting “flexicurity”. But trade unions and employers who took part both refused to endorse the final statement.
European Trade Union Confederation general secretary John Monks dismissed the outcome as “inadequate” and warned that growing unemployment could tempt Europeans to become more nationalistic, and damage European co-operation.
The ETUC had already condemned the decision to downgrade the meeting from summit-level to a discussion between the “troika” of current and incoming EU presidencies as sending the wrong signal to European workers and suggesting complacency. Mr Monks said the unions’ demands for a “New Social Deal” in the EU were much more far-reaching.
According to European Commission figures released last week, the economic downturn will cost 8.5 million jobs across Europe and drive unemployment up to 11 per cent in 2010.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists, criticised the “non-summit” for failing to agree any serious action to safeguard existing jobs or create new ones.
He said: “The message is that it is working people who will pay the price for this recession. The summit recommends more labour market flexibility, but there are already too many people in precarious employment. It is a tragedy that this conservative-dominated EU is so unwilling to do enough to fight the crisis.”
European social NGOs also expressed concern that the conclusions merely reflected “business as usual”.
Beforehand, the employers’ organisation BusinessEurope had predicted that the meeting would be of “the greatest importance”, with its success measured by agreement on concrete measures.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso defended the outcome, claiming several new ideas had emerged, to be put to EU leaders at the forthcoming summit in June.
In the meantime, the ETUC is organising demonstrations in Brussels, Berlin, Madrid and Prague this weekend, calling for social justice and solidarity to be at the heart of policies to tackle the economic crisis.
