Brussels, 18/06/2013
The June European Summit is of paramount importance for the future of the European project. In this respect, the ETUC has embarked on a series of meetings with European decision-makers to insist on the urgent need for a European recovery and investment plan geared to job creation and the fight against unemployment, particularly among young people.
The meeting with François Hollande, President of the French Republic, is crucial. France can play a key role in bringing about a change in current policies, as the ETUC advocates.
Before the meeting with the President of the French Republic, Bernadette Ségol declared: “Faced with an unemployment rate that is reaching intolerable levels, particularly for younger people, faced with a real social emergency, we are calling for a change of policy at European level. The European Summit at the end of June will be a test: in the absence of concrete measures in favour of growth and employment, without a real European recovery plan investing to 1 to 2% of GDP, we will never recover from the current crisis, and democratic support for the European project will again be put at risk. Scarcely a year before the next European elections, and in the face of a growing anti-EU feeling, it is the moment of truth for the European Union and Social Europe.”
- Photos of the meeting: http://www.elysee.fr/chronologie/#e3730,2013-06-19,rencontre-avec-mme-bernadette-segol-secretaire-generale-de-la-confederation-europeenne-des-syndicats-et-les-responsables-des-syndicats-francais-membres-de-la-ces
- ETUC’s position on the social dimension of the European Union: http://www.etuc.org/a/11136
- Tour of the EU capitals “Towards a social dimension for the European Union:” http://www.etuc.org/a/11184