CESI vice president criticises discriminatory website (21.02.2012)

Eric de Macker, Vice-President of CESI and President of the Dutch trade union CNV Publieke Zaak, strongly criticizes the new website and hotline of Geert Wilders’ right wing PVV party, that allows Dutch to complain about Central and Eastern Europeans (CEE). “This goes completely against our values”, de Macker says.

Disappointment about Commission's White Paper (16.02.2012)

Maria Geada Seoane, Vice-President of the CESI Commission Employment and Social Affairs (SOC), expresses her disappointment in view of the Commission's White Paper on adequate, safe and sustainable pensions.

Civil servants´ pay: Some German university professors have too small salaries (15.02.2012)

The German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the salary of a civil servant who works as a young university professor was too low and thus in breach with the German constitutional requirements. According to the so-called “alimentation principle” of the German Basic Law (Art.33 V GG) civil servants have particular duties and responsibilities towards the community for which they must be rewarded with an appropriate income.

Domingo Fernández Veiguela, CESI vice-president, deplores Spanish youth unemployment (14.02.2012)

Domingo Fernández Veiguela, CESI vice-president and President of Honor of the Spanish CSI-F, compares today’s situation with that of five decades ago. “In the 60s hundreds of thousands of Spanish workers with very little training emigrated to countries like France, Germany and Belgium. Over time most of them returned to Spain. Now it is their children who are leaving to look for work the world over, especially in the UK and Germany”, Fernández says.

CESI-SG: Mixed messages from Brussels in terms of austerity measures (06.02.2012)

The CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger raises doubts that the new Fiscal Pact will be more effective than the current Stability and Growth Pact, as recently amended by the Six-Pack.

Christian Chapuis, Vice president of CESI, welcomes the higher political attention of the heads of state and governments towards growth and employment, especially of the young (31.01.2012)

At the EU summit (31th January 2012) the politicians adopted - in addition the fiscal pact- a corresponding statement on „growth-friendly consolidation and job-friendly growth“. This against the background of the euro crisis and the growing unease that austerity measures alone can’t be a solution to the problem and might instead lead to recession and loss of employments.

SOC: Dauderstädt welcomes Green Paper on restructuring and anticipation of change (23.01.2012)

The President of the CESI Social Committee, Klaus Dauderstädt, welcomed the publication of the Green Paper “Restructuring and anticipation of change: what lessons from recent experience?” by the European Commission on Tuesday 17 January 2012.

Peter Heesen and Fritz Neugebauer, the Presidents of CESI, congratulate the new President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz on his election. (23.01.2012)

Knowing that the President was elected in a period of huge challenges at the European level, Heesen and Neugebauer like to stress on the role the Parliament is playing to overcome the current crisis: as only directly elected organ of the European Union its weight must be taken into account when it comes to measures that deeply concern the life and economic situation of citizens.

CESI Secretary General: Flexicurity may just be another word for the erosion of workers’ rights (20.01.2012)

As could be expected, with the beginning of the Danish EU Presidency the advantages of flexicurity to tackle unemployment, to raise the EU´s competitiveness and to overcome the current crisis are re-vaunted. It is obvious that in Denmark - where it is largely recognized that the model has turned out to be successful -, flexicurity is seen as a panacea against almost all ills.

Financial transaction tax´s impact on state pensions open (16.01.2012)

In view of the current debate on the introduction of a tax on financial transactions, CESI Vice-President Urs Stauffer recalls that austerity measures alone will not lead to balanced state budgets. According to Stauffer, additional measures to increase the revenuesof EU states will be necessary.