Eurochambres and the European Trade Union Confederation are drawing lessons from the continental vote.
European representatives of business and trade unions welcome the electoral success of the political center parties during the European elections. For these organizations, this new hemicycle is an opportunity to rethink the Green Deal to make it fairer.
According to Eurochambres, which represents the chambers of commerce and industry, the EU must focus on the direction it intends to give to the Green Deal.
“One of our strong messages to the new Member of the European Union Parliament and the new institutions is that we need to slow down before we start introducing new legislation“, explains Ben Butters, director of Eurochambres.
For Eurochambres, the EU must overcome its weaknesses in critical sectors such as manufacturing production and clean technologies. The organization calls for strengthening the European market to consolidate the autonomy of the European Union. The association believes that businesses and industry are currently in survival mode.
“We need to tackle the fundamental structural challenges that businesses face, particularly in manufacturing sectors: energy costs, access to raw materials, access to supplies in general“, specifies Ben Buttlers.
For their part, the unions recall that during the campaign they pleaded for the cost of living to be a priority in the next political cycle. Adapting the workforce to the challenges of artificial intelligence is one of the challenges of the years to come.
Although the Left and the Greens have lost seats in the new Parliament, there remains a majority to advance the social agenda. But “the most important thing is not to make deals with the far right. This is the most important thing because they cannot be trusted and on every occasion in the past they have voted against workers and their interests“, insists Esther Lynch, confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (CES).
If migration policy has dominated the speeches made by the far right, for the ETUC, the aging population of the Union accentuates the need to call on foreign workers who must be protected so as not to be exploited.
“Migrant workers are very often victims of exploitation by unscrupulous employers. We must ensure that all workers are covered by fair employment conditions. That all workers, no matter where they come from or what job they do, can join the union and negotiate fair wages“, underlines Esther Lynch.
Concerning the future of the Green Deal, the European Trade Union Confederation wants more social investments and a new directive on just transition.
