20090521 11:11:00 redazione-IT
FREE MOVEMENT OF SERVICES AND ITS DISCONTENTS
ANALYSES, CRITIQUES AND PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE
Il circolo PRC/SE "Karl Marx" di Londra organizza questo sabato 23 Maggio una tavola rotonda sul tema "Risocializzare l’Europa" (King’s College, Waterloo Campus, London SE1 8WA, Lecture Room 1.17, 2-5 p.m).
‘Social Europe’ is a promise dating back to the 1980s, when the inability of the internal market project to deliver, in and by itself, prosperity and social cohesion, became evident to the national and European political elites. By the time Jacques Delors became President of the Commission in 1985, it was accepted that neither ‘free movement’ nor the minimalist social regulation that the EEC had hitherto produced, would have delivered the goods and that a new social contract was needed to salvage the European project from ‘Euroscelrosis’ and ‘Euroscepticism’. As put by Delors himself in his 1988 speech to the TUC, ‘It is impossible to build Europe on only deregulation […] The internal market should be designed to benefit each and every citizen of the Community. It is therefore necessary to improve workers’ living and working conditions…’. Emphatically he added, ‘Europe needs you’.
The European and British labour movements, up until then cautious when not also outright sceptical about European ‘market building’ and the European project as a whole, agreed to commit themselves to the process and to the goals of European economic and social integration. This commitment is evidenced by the active participation of trade unions in the various components of European Social Dialogue, the Community law making process, and the invaluable daily contribution conferred to the European project in terms of democratic legitimacy. There is no doubt that some of the goals inherent to the European social agenda have been achieved, particularly in areas such as anti-discrimination legislation and equal treatment.
However recent decisions such as the (in)famous (for the trade union movement) ECJ judgements in Viking, Laval, Rüffert and Commission v Luxembourg, highlight a set of problematic issues that, if left unchecked, have the potential of creating an irreparable rift between the, increasingly European, labour movement and the European project. The view taken by European trade unionism is that these decisions effectively unleash market forces in an insufficiently regulated European single market, encouraging social dumping practices while at the same time undermining industrial relations and preventing organised labour from defending its interests by recurring to industrial action in support of collectively agreed labour standards. Unfortunately, as recently highlighted by the IREM-East Lindsey dispute, the social dumping practices that derive from this new phase of ‘market deregulation’, have also the potential of being manipulated by irresponsible or outright xenophobic political parties to serve their own political agendas.
The main object of the round-table is precisely to bring together trade unionists, politicians from the European left and centre-left parties, and labour and EU law experts to discuss the problems arising from this new deregulatory scenario, and suggest proposals for reform. The initiative is organised by the UK branch of the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, the circolo ‘Karl Marx’, that in recent months has taken a rather visible stance in respect of the IREM-East Lindsey dispute. There will be a strong emphasis on how free movement of services and the right to establishment are being used to undermine national social standards, in the absence of sufficiently strong supranational protections. But the scope of this mini-conference is broader than that, as it seeks to explore the question of how it is possible, if at all, to re-socialise the European project.
Some of the speakers that have already accepted our invitation are Andrea Biondi (Professor in EU Law at King’s College London, and President of the Partito Democratico in London), Keith Ewing (Professor in Labour Law at King’s College London), Roberta Fantozzi (Rifondazione Comunista, Head of the Labour and Welfare Department), John Hendy QC (Barrister, Old Chambers London), Claude Moraes MEP (Labour, Spokesperson for employment and social affairs, Employment and Social Affairs Committee), and Nicola Nicolosi (Head of CGIL’s European Secretariat).
This roundtable will take place on Saturday 23 May 2009, 2-5 p.m. in Lecture Room 1.17 at the Waterloo Campus of King’s College London. Further details will follow shortly. For enquiries please contact rifondazioneuk@gmail.com
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RE-SOCIALISING EUROPE
FREE MOVEMENT OF SERVICES AND ITS DISCONTENTS
ANALYSES, CRITIQUES AND PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE
Roundtable Programme
14:00 Arrivals and registrations – Arrivo e registrazione
14:15 Claudio Molinario Nota di benvenuto – Welcome note
14:25 Roberta Fantozzi Rifondazione Comunista, la Sinistra Europea e l’Europa Sociale – Rifondazione Comunista, the European Left and Social Europe
14:40 Nicola Nicolosi Crisi, Sindacato e Europa. Il Ruolo del Dialogo Sociale – The crisis, trade unions and Europe. The role of Social Dialogue
14:55 Questions and discussion
15:15 Keith Ewing A Tale of Two Cities (Luxembourg and Strasbourg) and the Right to Collective Bargaining – Una storia di due città (Lussemburgo e Strasburgo) e il diritto alla contrattazione collettiva
15:30 John Hendy QC A Tale of Two Cities (Luxembourg and Strasbourg) and the Right to Strike – Una storia di due città (Lussemburgo e Strasburgo) e il diritto di sciopero
15:45 Questions and discussion
16:00 Tea Break
16:15 Andrea Biondi In defence of European Integration: what the ECJ was supposed to do – In difesa dell’integrazione Europea: quello che la Corte avrebbe dovuto dire
16:30 Claude Moraes MEP The Labour Party and Social Europe. Concluding remarks – Il Labour e l’Europa Sociale. Considerazioni conclusive
16:45 Questions and discussion
16:55 Claudio Molinario Nota finale – Final address
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EmiNews 2009
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