Social Europe, finally: it is essential and it is possible!
By Christophe Quarez, member of the European Economic and Social Committee

Only available in FR

Right wing populism and nationalism, while not a new phenomenon, has in the recent years taken hold in many countries, including several within the European Union; sometimes as opposition, sometimes as government. Often, the ideological mixture of welfare chauvinism and nationalism is intended to appeal to the working class, with different degrees of success.

Membership of a Trade Union does not always mean, like it used to, immunity to these ideas, as these parties have abandoned their explicit neoliberal policies (at least in public discourse) and have taken what traditionally were leftwing issues such as social justice or redistribution to appeal to what they perceive as the 'losers of globalisation'. 

The EESC Workers’ Group held an extraordinary meeting in Bucharest, Romania, focusing on Labour Rights and Social Convergence: a Europe of Common Values. Opening the meeting, Oliver Röpke, President of the Workers' Group, congratulated the Romanian Presidency particularly for concluding several files which were important to improving working people’s lives such as the establishment of the European Labour Authority and the directives on work-life balance and transparent and predictable working conditions.

Cinzia del Rio and many other Workers' Group members are now in Geneva discussing the Report of the Global Commission on the Future of Work.