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01-07-2005: CESI's appeal to UK Council Presidency: Deeds must follow words
 
The CESI is pinning high expectations on the UK Council Presidency with regard to the current EU crisis. CESI General Secretary Helmut Müllers made the following observation on the issue: "Prime Minister Blair presented himself to the European Parliament as a passionate European and declared his support for a Europe with a strong social dimension. We strongly welcome this and expect concrete deeds to follow these words over the next six months. In the face of globalisation and worries over job security, workers are looking to Europe for clear political signals", the General Secretary added.
The CESI is thus calling on the British Premier to take on a strong leading role and act as mediator amongst the Member States in order to achieve socio-political progress. Such a role would also entail abandoning British resistance to various crucial trade union topics, the most prominent of which being the working time directive and above all the "opt-out". Helmut Müllers: "Here, the British government should finally make an effort and look for compromises with the other Member States. We also expect adjustments to be made to the directive on services in the internal market. The widespread fear of social dumping must be taken seriously."
CESI’s President, Valerio Salvatore, added: "The referenda in France and the Netherlands demonstrated clearly that European politics has lost touch with the public. This is why we expect the British Council Presidency to apply a citizen-friendly policy so that peoples' faith in Europe and its institutions is revived."
 In the CESI’s view, the current crisis has a definite positive side, as it is forcing all concerned to challenge the policies and positions adopted over the last few years. Salvatore observed: "In his address to the Parliament, Tony Blair spoke about modernisation, with a view to improving peoples’ lives. Independent trade unions are not opposed to these kinds of changes. We will be happy to take Blair up on his offer to have an open debate on the future of Europe. Europe’s financial priorities also come into this. We give our utmost support to the Council Presidency where greater priority is given to research. Investing in research can contribute to the creation of new, urgently needed jobs."

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