ETUC Memorandum to the Greek Council Presidency
Date: 5-2-2003
A delegation from the European Trade Union Confederation met with the Greek Prime Minister, Constantinos Simitis, in Athens at the end of last week and presented the Trade Union Memorandum to the Greek Council Presidency. In the Memorandum, the ETUC outlines its policy priorities in areas such as institutional reform, the Lisbon Strategy, and workers' rights and social policy. Some of the main issues highlighted in the Memorandum are as follows:
The Future of Europe Reform Process
- A key priority for the ETUC will be to ensure that the reformed treaties recognise and strengthen the autonomy and the role, also as co-regulators, of the social partners at all levels.
The Spring 2003 European Council Meeting
- In view of the poor and still deteriorating economic situation, the Spring 2003 European Council must become an emergency summit.
- New Broad Economic Policy Guidelines must be drawn up, focused on the immediate period and no longer just on the medium term, designed to get the EU back on to the Lisbon 3 percent per annum growth path, and thus back on course too for achieving full employment by the end of the decade.
- The European Employment Strategy must continue to be a key instrument for expressing the values of the European Social Model, which balances competitiveness and solidarity.
Workers' Rights and Social Policy
- The recent agreement by the European social partners on their own multi-annual working programme is an important new step, reinforcing the role of the social partners and social dialogue and signalling their readiness to contribute to the European integration project.
- The revision of the European Works Council Directive is now three years overdue and the ETUC calls on the Presidency to take an initiative to start the legislative review, which is urgently needed.
- The ETUC welcomes the Commissions Communication on a �European Strategy for Health and Safety at Work�, and supports the reinforcement of the role of health and safety in the European employment strategy as well as the mainstreaming approach of health and safety in relevant community policies.
A Common EU Immigration and Asylum Policy
- The ETUC welcomes the Presidency�s importance given to facilitating the social inclusion of immigrants, and underlines the importance to do it in a spirit of solidarity and respect for human rights.
The Unification of Europe
- The ETUC warmly welcomes the agreement on enlarging the European Union reached at the Copenhagen summit: it marks a historical step in the unification of Europe, which will be concluded, with the signing of the accession treaty during the Greek EU Presidency.