Coordinated trade union strikes across many countries in Europe will culminate in a march to the Brussels headquarters of the European Union. Whilst European trade unions wield far less power today than they did a decade ago and are seen as being mistrusted and irrelevant to many we should perhaps not underestimate the underlying power that those who take part in strikes may yet play in deciding the future course of EU politics. For now cutting deficits is the priority and no matter how workers object there can be no going back on individual policies that will hopefully lead eventually to balanced national budgets. But what is now being played out across Europe in the form of both government action to cut national deficits and belated action by trade unions could also lead to an eventual reshaping of EU policy, authority and power. Many across Europe would welcome that!
It is certainly true to say that the European trade union movement as a whole has over the past couple of decades lost much relevance, power and credibility. Today is mere blip and even in Spain where a twenty-four hour strike amongst public sector workers will probably have the most significant impact it seems to me that trade unions will fail to bring the whole country to its knees. Indeed, it seems that not only have trade unions lost power and authority to bring a whole nation or system to its knees they have lost the trust of many of those who in the past had provided the keys to power. That may reason why despite previous strikes in several countries the European trade union movement has taken so long to co-ordinate action that we see around us today.
Clearly the events of today are a chance for the European trade union movement to redeem itself by showing members and those that had abandoned the ideals of trade unionism years ago that they fully understand the importance of being relevant to the membership. Equally true is that workers across Europe also realise that government costs had gotten well out of control and that somehow all nations must begin to live within their means. That says also that they well recognise the need for governments to cut public services albeit that as in all times past they do not want to see those cuts in their own back yards.
Meanwhile we may well know what caused the governments of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to get themselves into a mess but neither strikes that will have only minimal effect nor blaming hapless EU or Euozone authorities that have consistently closed their eyes to the mess that they now stand accused of having created will solve the problem. I am in little doubt though that despite the odd hiccup and maybe required additional bailout most of those EU member states that have been troubled by massive and maybe still rising national deficits will at some point manage to bring their respective economies into balance and line with the others. Of course, it may well take ten years and there will be massive amounts of pain for those involved. Equally I must at the same time recognise the need to question the whole role of a co-ordinated style government approach in the form of the EU asking the question whether the EU has been allowed to become far too large for its own good?
The answer to that has to be yes just of course as the same applies for the number of nations that have been drawn into the Euro. It is then not only individual governments that are now being shown to be under duress it is may also be the very existence and future of both the European Union and maybe the Euro. That both will survive in some form is probably not in doubt and to a point also welcome but what is in question is that the power that each wield and size that each has become should be questioned and seriously reviewed. History dictates many things of course and we ignore the lessons of the past at our peril. But whilst I am completely opposed to the actions being demonstrated by workers across Europe today I can hardly ignore that having failed to understand the policy implications that played a part in allowing national deficits to rise and for government borrowing to get completely out of control the very fact that the precious political elite of the EU was caught firmly off guard suggests that looking forward beyond the self inflicted mess issues should not just be about securing lower government spend but also on whether centralised power in the form of the EU has been allowed to go too far. It may well also be the case that some EU nations might also now do better being outside the Euro.
We also need to understand in my view that whilst most current attention centres on the problems of Ireland, Spain, Greece and Portugal similar deficit and debt problems arise in countries such as France, Italy and Britain and where spend on healthcare, social security, education out of control and unaffordable in their present form. Increasingly we must also realise that expectations of what each individual person in the EU believes should be his or her natural entitlement from the state will from now on need to be seriously dampened down. They must also realise that in mature economies the massive growth in power of the EU over recent years is probably now unsustainable. Of course, now may not be the time to push for big or immediate change in how Europe is governed and whether the EU might yield some of its power back to the nation state but it is probably time to at least open a new debate. Meanwhile appeasing Europe’s more belligerent workers will certainly not be easy and not one single inch can be given away in terms of the approach to cutting massive overspend. EU member states have no choice but to carry on with cutting budget deficits regardless of whatever additional trade union pressure is brought to bear. Thankfully and despite what looks like a big turnout for strikes and maybe also for the planned demonstrations later today I may also believe that deep down the majority of EU based workers do recognise that a system that allows individual demand to be out of proportion to what the nation state can afford can only be unsustainable.
Clearly strikes by the many thousands of workers involved today will further damage the political image of an already tarnished EU. Many in Britain and elsewhere will not lose too much sleep over that but despite its many failings we should of course not lose sight that the EU has not only opened up trade barriers but also helped maintain the peace of Europe over the years. For each we should be eternally grateful.
