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From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 28 23:32 PST 1997
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Message-ID: Pine.3.89.9703282317.C11202-010@queen
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 23:34:11 -0500
Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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From: "P. K. Murphy" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Birth of the Euro-Demo a Warning to Governments
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The Irish Times=20
FOREIGN Friday, March 28, 1997=20
=20
BIRTH OF THE EURO-DEMO A WARNING TO GOVERNMENTS
=20
EUROPEAN DIARY/Patrick Smyth
=20
Some of the big battalions of the European labour movement have been
flexing their muscles in recent days, and, significantly, finding that
their broadsides are forcing governments to take note.
=20
Sensitive to wide perceptions that cuts associated in the public mind
with the single currency are unduly harsh, Italian, German, French and
Belgian leaders have been bending over backwards to win back popular
ground.
=20
On Sunday in Rome, in a most impressive display of its might, the
Italian trade union movement brought some 400,000 workers on to the
streets. Intended as a shot across the bows of the government ahead of
its mid-week mini-budget, the march was led by the leader of the
former communist party (PDS), Mr Massimo D'Alema, whose ministers form
the major part of the Olive Tree government.
=20
The message was not lost on the government - its package of measures,
designed to bring down the projected Italian deficit by 0.8 per cent
to the Maastricht 3 per cent, was largely a combination of accounting
measures and job stimulation using funds set aside by employers for
paying workers who leave.
=20
On March 11th, Paris saw the birth of the Euro-demo, when many
thousands converged from Belgium, Spain, even Slovenia, and France's
own Renault plants in protest at the firm's planned closures in
Vilvoorde in Brussels. They carried placards demanding a "social
Europe instead of a sweatshop Europe".
=20
In Brussels the government made clear its sympathies and promised to
prosecute Renault for its failure to consult. In Paris President
Chirac called in the company's boss to upbraid him, and the European
Commission, in the guise of our own Mr Padraig Flynn, pledged to look
at tougher rules.
=20
That weekend 70,000 marched through Brussels itself against the
closure - there were contingents from France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
the UK, Holland, Greece and Austria. More pan-European marches are
planned by the trade unions.
=20
In the most remarkable about face, Germany's Chancellor, Dr Helmut
Kohl, on March 13th retreated on pit subsidies only days after
announcing cuts of =A32 billion to the industry. Furious miners
descended on Bonn in their thousands, forcing the Chancellor to
reschedule the cuts and in the process saving nine pits from closure.
=20
Following the success of the miners, the deputy secretary-general of
the Federation of German Trade Unions, Ms Ursula Engelen Kefer, this
week warned that strikes might spread if the government pursued its
"irresponsible" cuts policy.
=20
The unions are "at breaking point", she said, arguing that the
government's policy was in fact jeopardising the launch of the single
currency.
=20
The Finance Minister, Mr Theo Waigel, was "leading Germany into a
self-built trap of a far-too rigid interpretation of the Maastricht
criteria and austerity politics on the backs of workers and their
families".
=20
Stressing that the unions back the timetable for the launch of a
strong single currency, Ms Engelen Kefer said that "the world will not
crash if the deficit is 3.1 per cent, and we could have Maastricht
without pushing more people into unemployment and poverty."
=20
It is a message Europe's governments might do well to heed.
=20
=A9 Copyright: The Irish Times
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