The European Parliament is a glass and concrete megalith sticking out in an ordinary Brussels district. On 22nd and 23rd May the plush building looked even stranger to nearly a thousand delegates from trade unions, the unemployed and the marginalised from all over the continent. At the initiative of a group of MEPs, from Socialist, Labour, Green and Communist parties, the Parliament was opened up to two days of discussion on the question of employment. Thanks to excellent work by MEPs Ken Coates, Hugh Kerr and Stan Newens, among others, and their staff, scores of British participants were able to attend.
In Europe today, despite the enormous riches of the majority of its countries, there are over 20 million people officially out of work. As the Brussels Declaration issued at the end of the conference, declared, "Too many governments of Europe are prioritising monetary union at the cost of employment and cohesion." The dole queue is growing as public spending is reduced and labour is made more "flexible" - so it's easier to hire-and-fire. The task, the Convention asserted, is to get full employment back on the agenda. The left has to develop creative types of employment to meet social needs, from the environment to health. Given the reality of the integrated Euro-economy and institutional structures, no country, or left government - as Stuart Holland has argued in the summer issue of European Labour Forum - can do this in isolation.
Workshops at the Conference debated ideas such as Holland's plans for a European Investment Fund. Shorter working time - a major demand of many European left parties - was debated. A society of democratic equality was proposed to replace the "insecurity and social exclusion" faced by increasing numbers.
There are fundamental differences among European countries' unemployment systems. Most of Europe has insurance-based schemes, which only cover certain categories, and can terminate all benefit after a year or so. If you think the Jobseekers' Allowance is bad you should know that in France the expression chomeur en fin de droits (unemployed at the end of their rights) exists. Spain has large numbers not even covered by insurance. Soup kitchens and a measure of outdoor relief are the fate of many Mediterranean workless.
Yet there is a "convergence" of problems. As Europe does become more inter-related, it seems as if the worst features of each state predominate. Tony Blair's Government plans to coerce people into a shrinking labour market, badly thought-out training schemes, and workfare, and already there are many potential imitators abroad.
In contrast to the British Government's negative approach, speakers advanced plans for real job creation, an Employment Charter, union rights, improving women's working position, decent housing, and a strong public sector.
A notable amendment to the final resolution stressed the need for rights not for existing "citizens" of Europe, but for "all inhabitants". Christophe Acuiton from the Euro-March emphasised the need for continued united Euro-wide initiatives from trade unions, the unemployed and progressive social movements. That there was such unity between a wide section of the left, union movement, and unemployed, was itself a major step in promoting the Convention's "message of hope". This was a new start for the European left, symbolised by the work done by such leading Convention figures as Ken Coates and Frieder Otto Wolf to draw so many together.