Investments

Europe’s path to more competitiveness needs to focus on increased investment in people and technology – not lowering rights and standards, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) told EU leaders today. At a European Commission event to mark a year since the publication of the Draghi report on competitiveness, Esther Lynch called for a shift towards strategic investment for a European industrial policy with quality jobs at its heart as the only way to secure long-term resilience and prosperity for Europe. 

Following her unveiling of the Clean Industrial Deal last week, which includes important job-saving measures, Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera met with trade union leaders from across Europe today. The discussions focussed on the urgency of EU action to stem the wave of job cuts faced by working people.

The ETUC is calling for the revision of public procurement rules to be used to make it easy for national authorities to prioritise companies that have a collective agreement and invest in the workforce.

Corporations are harming Europe’s competitiveness by choosing to hoard a greater share of profits instead of reinvesting them to raise productivity and create quality jobs, an analysis of EU data by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) shows. Gross investment has fallen by 9% across the EU since 2019 and is at its lowest rates since 2014, when the economy was still reeling from the financial crisis. 

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 ETUC’s call for a major shift towards more EU investment has been backed by Draghi, but trade unions warn that specific measures will be needed to ensure the investment creates quality jobs in all sectors and all regions. Trade union involvement will be key. Social dialogue and collective bargaining must be at the centre of the solution for European competitiveness. We call on the President of the European Commission to convene a social partner working group to discuss the report and the way forward.