Brussels, 02/06/2008 Recently, 14 European political personalities published an opinion piece in a major French daily newspaper calling for an end to “financial madness”. The German President Horst Köhler has compared the financial markets to a “monster”, and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg was similarly outraged at the excesses of the world of finance. The ETUC welcomes all these statements, since they reflect the prescient position the ETUC developed on casino capitalism in 2007, even before the sub-prime crisis.

Brussels, 02/06/2008 "The climate package proposed by the Commission for 2020, and in particular its measures on biofuels and industrial emissions, paves the way to an externalisation of CO2 emissions outside the European Union", commented John Monks. This creates a serious problem for the credibility of the EU's commitments on climate change and sustainable development.

Brussels, 30/05/2008 The report's author, Jan Andersson, made a series of proposals that move in the right direction. MEPs of different political persuasions have stressed the need for legislators to react to the recent judgements in the European Court of Justice (ECJ): the Laval, Viking, Rüffert cases.

Brussels, 29/05/2008 - Eurociett / Uni-Europa Joint declaration on the directive on working conditions for temporary agency workers

Brussels, 21/05/2008

Brussels, 21/05/2008

Brussels, 19-20/06/2008

Brussels, 13/05/2008 Zimbabwe police arrested President Lovemore Motombo and Secretary General Wellington Chibebe on 8 May 2008, after raiding their homes two days earlier. The ETUC understands that they face unsubstantiated charges of allegedly ‘inciting people to rise against the government and reporting falsehoods about people being killed’, following speeches they made on May Day. The ETUC is extremely concerned about their welfare, in view of the brutal treatment meted out to trade unionists in Zimbabwe on several previous occasions.

London, 12/05/2008 To be checked against delivery Opening Remarks I welcome this seminar. At times, I have wondered if the UK recognised that there is a social Europe in any way that we in the trade union world could identify with.

05/05/2008

Brussels, 02/05/2008 Once again the Turkish government has failed to recognise and safeguard fundamental rights, and in particular social and trade union rights. The ETUC continues to press the European Commission and the Turkish government to ensure effective respect for trade union freedoms in Turkey.

Brussels, 30/04/2008 ETUC has been calling for a long time for a revision of the EWC directive; this is the reason why it will strongly support the Commission’s plan to strengthen EWCs. ETUC reaffirms the importance of European Works Councils: indeed, they afford millions of workers across the European Union the right to information and consultation on company decisions through their EWC representatives, and that can affect a large number of workers. It's an important message to remember on the occasion of May Day.

Brussels, 28/04/2008 The ETUC report’s basic line is that macroeconomic policy cannot stand by and watch shocks multiply throughout the economy, ultimately giving rise to negative confidence and expectations becoming entrenched.