Less than two weeks before Christmas, Belgian trade union members demonstrated today against the grinch-like austerity plans being drawn up by the country’s future government.  The demonstration in Brussels organised by all three Belgian trade unions and support by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) comes during negotiations over the programme of the next government.

Commenting on the 0.25 point cut in interest rates announced today by the European Central Bank (ECB), ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said: “Interest rates have been too high for too long. That has put further financial strain on workers and put jobs at risk by preventing companies from investing. 

Europe is facing a strong and preponderant return of austerity, accompanied by massive budget reductions, harsh public spending cuts and structural reforms that adversely affect working people. The European trade unions not only have not supporting this approach, but they consider it negative both economically and socially.That is why, in all European countries, we are mobilising to oppose it and bring forward an alternative agenda. Our demands are clear:

Mario Draghi’s Report on the future of European competitiveness was published on 9 September 2024. 

A return to austerity when we desperately need to increase investment would take Europe down a road to ruin, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warned in Rome today. Speaking at a European conference against austerity organised by the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Esther Lynch recalled how the austerity measures put in place after the 2008 financial crisis were a catastrophe for working people.

The alarming contraction in economic activity in the Eurozone shows why the European Central Bank (ECB) needs to lower interest rates further and faster.  The eurozone is facing its first economic contraction in seven months, with the composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) published this week falling below the critical threshold of 50.The development signals shrinking activity in both manufacturing and services sectors and highlights the fragility of the economic situation, particularly in Germany and France. 

Brussels, 11 September 2024

The European Central Bank has today announced interest rates will remain unchanged despite the fact that it says “most measures [of underlying inflation] were either stable or edged down in June.”Responding to the decision, ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said: “Today’s decision shows the ECB has no clear strategy of how to deal with profit-driven inflation.   

Even countries with low levels of debt are at high risk of adopting austerity measures under plans approved today by EU finance ministers.

Raising interest rates is “costly and ineffective” in tackling the profit-driven inflation and instead punishes working people and prevents climate action, a new

The European Commission today announced that it is opening a ‘Excessive Deficit Procedure’ for Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. Reacting to the announcement, ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said: “Forcing member states to make draconian cuts to public expenditure is a recipe for economic, social and political disaster. “The obsession with deficit reduction completely misses addressing the challenges Europe is facing with the twin transitions. What Europe needs is social and green investments.

Responding to the ECB’s decision to cut interest rates from record levels, ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:“Today’s decision is long overdue against a background of inflation which has been driven by the record profits of the biggest corporations - not by working people experiencing a historic cut in their living standards.

The economic forecast published today by the European Commission shows the need for Europe to start supporting investment and fair pay. 

Politicians who have supported strict new spending rules must have the courage to tax wealthy corporations making record profits – and not make struggling workers pay through new austerity measures. The European Parliament today voted in favour of fiscal rules which mean that member states will need to cut their budgets by over 100 billion Euro a year from 2027 or raise the equivalent amount through tax.

Open letter of Belgian, French, Italian and Spanish trade unions to MEPs ahead of the vote of the fiscal rules on Tuesday 23 April, 2024The new fiscal rules will make the necessary transformation of our societies impossible, leaving workers and citizens behind at a time when they need protection more than ever.

The results of the newly released EU poll on social Europe show why the European Parliament should reject proposed fiscal rules that would reimpose austerity. The Eurobarometer released today shows nine in ten European citizens say a social Europe is of personal importance to them, with wages and healthcare featuring high among their priorities. 

The majority of EU member states will not be able to meet their targets for investment in schools, hospitals and housing under plans for new economic governance rules, a study for the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has found.  

A joint ETUC-NEF report by Sebastian Mang and Dominic Caddick

Brussels, 28 March 2024 To: Members of the European Parliament   Dear Members of the European Parliament, The Executive Committee of the ETUC has adopted a Resolution on Economic governance reform: ETUC priorities against austerity and for investments.

Economic governance reform: ETUC priorities against austerity and for investments Adopted at the Executive Committee Meeting of 26-27 March 2024   

Brussels, 20 March 2024 [Check against delivery]   There can be no doubt about the need for action. 

The European Central Bank has chosen to maintain interest rates at their record high levels today, citing wage increases.  Real wages have fallen for two consecutive years while real profits have increased, so any objective assessment of inflation finds that it has been driven by profits not wages. The real compensation of workers in the EU, which represents pay after inflation is taken into account, fell by 0.7 per cent in 2023.

The European Commission has published details of the positive impact of public investment - on the same day that the Council is to sign-off on austerity rules which would severely reduce future public investment. 

Europe’s weakening economy shows we cannot afford record interest rates or a return to austerity, trade unions are warning in response to the European Commission’s latest forecast. The  Winter 2024 Economic Forecast published today by the European Commission states:

Responding to the European Central Bank's decision to keep interest rates at record levels, European Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Esther Lynch said: “Record interest rates are piling unnecessary financial pressure on working people and risk pushing the economy into a job-destroying recession.” “That is a high price to pay for a policy which economists have said is not actually bringing down inflation.