Brussels, 09/11/2009 At the recent Tripartite Social Summit, I quoted the ancient Roman playwright, Platus. I make no apology for repeating his apt remark to our present circumstances. Platus said “I am a rich man as long as I do not repay my creditors”. Or as many bankers might express it, “we are rich men as long as we get almost free money and guarantees from Governments, and give priority to repairing our own balance sheets.”

Brussels, 05/11/2009 This advance is an encouragement in our continuing campaign to ensure a proper interpretation of the Treaty’s internal market provisions and against the unbalanced rulings of the European Court of Justice in the Laval, Viking, Rüffert and Luxemburg cases.

Brussels, 04/11/2009 Joël Decaillon, ETUC Confederal Secretary, talks us through the issues for the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit on climate change and the {{demands of the European trade union movement. }} {{What are the issues for the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit on climate change? }}

Brussels, 02/11/2009 The ETUC considers that, instead of organising and setting dates for a premature fiscal exit strategy, policy makers should discuss how to maintain and even strengthen the fiscal stimulus strategy. The latter should be done by rolling out the public investment infrastructure that is necessary for the ‘greening’ of the European economy. European economic policy must break with the ‘Brussels Frankfort’ consensus.

Brussels, 29/10/2009 I read the other day an apt quotation by the ancient Roman playwright, Platus, who remarked “I am a rich man as long as I do not repay my creditors”. Or as many bankers might express it – “we are rich men as long as we get almost free money and guarantees from Governments.”

Brussels, 29/10/2009

Brussels, 28/10/2009 As ETUC Confederal Secretary Joël Decaillon puts it: ’ The decisions taken at this European Council and later at the Copenhagen Summit will be key moments in judging whether Europe and the world have the will to undertake the necessary changes both to protect the climate and to bolster social cohesion’.

Washington, 27/10/2009 The European Trade Union Confederation welcomes this invitation to submit our views to the Transatlantic Economic Council. This is the first occasion on which we, together with the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations, de facto the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue, have been invited to participate in this process.

Brussels, 27/10/2009

Brussels, 23/10/2009

Brussels, 21/10/2009 The ETUC demands: •  An ambitious, binding and comprehensive international agreement aiming to limit the global rise in temperatures to maximum 2°C, in accordance with the scenarios laid down by the IPCC, reducing at least 25%-40% by developed countries by 2020 below 1990 levels. • An enhanced European contribution to finance the global mitigation of climate change.

Brussels, 20/10/2009 For the ETUC, European financial ministers are missing the key point: The economy is not going through a temporary downturn but is facing instead a prolonged weakness of demand and economic activity because of excessive private sector debt loads. Therefore, the real issue right now is not how to withdraw fiscal stimulus but how to maintain and significantly improve fiscal stimulus so as to help the private sector in reducing its debts, without at the same time causing a protracted slump in economic activity.

Brussels, 14/10/2009 Thank you for the privilege of inviting me to give the John Fitzmaurice lecture this year. I honour his memory and I follow in distinguished footsteps including those of Neil Kinnock, Margot Wallström and Geoff Hoon to address an old question about where Europe might be heading in the months and years ahead, an old question but one set against a rapidly changing landscape.