Meeting with the new Secretariat of European Trade Union Confederation | Statements
PRIME MINISTER
PRESS OFFICE
Athens, May 19 2011
Prime Minister, George A. Papandreou, met the new Secretariat of European Trade Union Confederation, elected to the ETUC Congress held in Athens (16-19 May).
At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister and Secretary General of the Confederation, Bernadette Segol, said the following:
G. A. PAPANDREOU: So let me welcome you again, and congratulate you for your election. But I also want to thank you for deciding to organise your Congress here in Athens, in also solidarity with the Greek trade unions and the workers of Greece.
We are going through a very difficult period, and I can only say that I agree very much with some of the proposals you have tabled, such as for example the financial transaction tax on the transactions in the stock market and the banks, also the idea of the collective European bond, a Eurobond.
I believe that if we did have these as tools in the European Union today we would be able to deal with the crisis in the euro zone in a much more effective way, and I would also say a much more just way. Sometimes we talk about the need that the banks need to pay out, or what they did, whether it was in the United States or whether their mistakes were in Europe or wherever else, while the financial transaction tax would be a very just way, I believe, for dealing with this, but also giving us the possibility for growth in Europe, investing in human capacity, green growth and infrastructure, which would then help all of the euro zone but also deal with the Eurobond, the debt issue.
That doesn’t mean that we in Greece don’t have to make our changes. We have our problems, but we brought them upon ourselves in many ways. And there are lots of structural changes we are trying to make, to make our economy viable.
But I believe that if there was a stronger framework of European economic not only cooperation but basically governance, which we want, this would make this transition period much easier, and particularly much easier for the workers of our society.
So again I want to welcome you, and you have my support for what you are doing. I think the workers’ voice in Europe and around the world has to be strengthened; it must be strengthened.
And I also, despite possible differences we may have with the trade unions in Greece, we are on the same side, fighting for the collective bargaining, fighting for social cohesion, and certainly for justice and human rights and workers’ rights. So welcome again.
B. SEGOL: Thank you very much, Prime Minister, and thank you very much for receiving the ETUC today. The European Trade Union Confederation just finished its twelfth congress. It was a very intense and positive congress. We are all united in this congress, and we all say that Greece needs a better deal, and it’s a better deal for people, it’s a better deal for workers.
And we believe that the economic governance which is now being put in place is not that better deal, and will not bring the recovery and the growth that you need and that Europe needs.
And that’s a very, very strong message that we are carrying. And certainly we support the elements that have been putting forward the financial transaction tax, the Eurobond, and investments in Europe.
And I want to say that we are united, and also all German unions are behind this. There is no difference in Europe, in that position.
So I think it’s a very strong message that we are bringing to you. We are also concerned about collective bargaining, about the attacks on collective bargaining, flexibilisation and decrease in minimum wages that are happening in many countries.
And we know that you support the trade unions, but we are very keen to have this protection of collective bargaining, autonomy of the social partners to continue in the future. And we trust that you can use your political strength to support us in that matter.
Thank you very much again for receiving us. We know you have a very tight agenda, and we appreciate this.
MR. G. PAPANDREOU: It’s my honour to have you here, and thank you again.