Speaking ahead of her re-election in a wide-ranging speech, Von der Leyen stated “Our first priority will be prosperity and competitiveness... This is why I will put forward a new Clean Industrial Deal in the first 100 days. It will channel investment in infrastructure and industry, in particular for energy-intensive sectors. This will help create lead markets in everything from clean steel to clean tech and it will speed up planning, tendering, and permitting... Europe needs more investment from farming to industry, from digital to strategic technologies but also more investment in people and their skills. This mandate has to be the time of investment... I will propose a new European Competitiveness Fund. It will be focused on common and cross-border European projects that will drive competitiveness and innovation – notably to support the Clean Industrial Deal. It will ensure that we develop strategic tech and manufacture it here, in Europe. So, from AI to clean tech, the future of our prosperity must be made in Europe... We must ensure fair transitions and good working conditions for workers and self-employed people. And crucial for that is Social Dialogue – the hallmark of our social market economy. We will therefore work to increase collective bargaining and strengthen European Social Dialogue.”
Analysing the political guidelines presented by the newly elected Commission President, industriAll Europe finds many of the core demands of our #GoodIndustrialJobs campaign. It is clear that trade union mobilisation has delivered a political programme that we can build on, including:
• A Clean Industrial Deal for quality jobs to be proposed within the first 100 days, along with a European Competitiveness Fund
• A “Quality Jobs Roadmap” that will “support fair wages, good working conditions…, notably by increasing collective bargaining coverage.”
• “Initiatives looking at how digitalisation is impacting the world of work, from AI management, to telework and the impact of an “always on” culture on people’s mental health.”
• “We need to ensure a just transition for all. [...] We will significantly increase our funding for a just transition across the next long-term budget”
• A revision of the Public Procurement Directive
• Implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
• A Clean Industrial Deal for quality jobs to be proposed within the first 100 days, along with a European Competitiveness Fund
• A “Quality Jobs Roadmap” that will “support fair wages, good working conditions…, notably by increasing collective bargaining coverage.”
• “Initiatives looking at how digitalisation is impacting the world of work, from AI management, to telework and the impact of an “always on” culture on people’s mental health.”
• “We need to ensure a just transition for all. [...] We will significantly increase our funding for a just transition across the next long-term budget”
• A revision of the Public Procurement Directive
• Implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
These promises must urgently be turned into concrete proposals which address the economic and social insecurity plaguing Europe, and be accompanied by strong investment instruments. The proof will be in the eating of the pudding if this is really a break from existing failed recipes of austerity, labour market flexibilisation and deregulation. We already see in many member states that major spending cuts are on the agenda of national governments. Austerity threatens to be the midwife of deindustrialisation in Europe.
Speaking after hearing Von der Leyen’s address, industriAll Europe’s General Secretary Judith Kirton-Darling stated, “The EP election results made it clear that there cannot be a ‘business as usual’ approach. Years of economic austerity, attacks on good quality jobs, and ever-growing inequalities have damaged people across Europe and undermined trust in politicians. They have created greater social fragmentation and created a seedbed of anxiety and insecurity for the extreme right to feed on. This was acknowledged in Von de Leyen’s speech in Strasbourg. But we need deeds not just words.”
“This Commission must rebuild prosperity in Europe, through an active industrial policy, Just Transition framework, and rights to job quality. We heard Von der Leyen’s promises and we welcome the direction of travel. However, ensuring adequate investment will make or break this strategy – therefore we need to halt the march towards austerity and use social conditionalities to ensure a real return on investment to the taxpayer, workers and local communities. The European Pillar of Social Rights must now be effectively implemented, notably with a Just Transition legal framework and a right to training for every worker regardless of contract. Exceptional times demand innovative solutions, not more of the same, failed policies.”
“We must recognise a very basic fact: there is no national solution to the transnational problems we face economically, socially, geopolitically or environmentally. We need European solutions! To do that, we need a social, fair and future-proofed Europe which delivers concrete solutions for EU citizens, wherever they live”, said Judith Kirton-Darling, industriall Europe’s General Secretary.