The EU is committed to ethical regulation of world trade and protecting the rights of workers here and around the globe, writes David Begg
Workers and their families can help to bring about a fairer, safer Europe by voting in favour of the Nice Treaty.
The characteristics of a fairer Europe I would define as a Europe which combines economic efficiency with individual freedom and social justice, and reduces inequality of incomes to the maximum extent possible in a modern economy. A fairer Europe would also place a priority on the quality of life over mere financial wealth, and pursue an ethical foreign policy aimed at eliminating poverty in the developing world.
These are values which are inherently European and which inspired Monnet, Schumann and, in particular, the trade unionists who collaborated to initiate the European project after the second World War.
They are values which inspired the vision of Jacques Delors in later years when he advocated the primacy of a political and social Europe and not just a common market. As we see it, this vision is now under considerable threat from a model of globalisation which is driven from the United States and which eschews all considerations other than maximising shareholder value. We are out to preserve and defend the European social model and we believe that we can best do that by voting Yes in the referendum.
Some people on the centre-left of politics share our analysis of the dangers of globalisation but take an opposing viewpoint on the relevance of the Nice Treaty to that debate. They see the treaty as an integral part of an agenda to extend the influence of big business into public services and the gradual erosion of public space in the economy. We see it as a potential brake on that process.
Specifically, it was argued in an article by trade unionist Mick O'Reilly in this newspaper on Monday that Article 133 of the Treaty of Nice is an agreement designed to deregulate markets for the benefit of business. He argued that by introducing qualified majority voting, it would be easier for the EU to conclude agreements at WTO level which override the policies of national governments and, contrary to their wishes, allow private-sector involvement in the delivery of health and education services. It was further argued that national governments would be able to get off the hook by claiming that they were outvoted by their colleagues on the Council of Ministers and had no option but to allow privatisation.
These assertions are not correct. Article 133 provides that decisions on educational services, social and human health services and cultural services are to be taken, not by qualified majority, but with the agreement of all member-states.
It was implied in Mick O'Reilly's article that the change to qualified majority voting would mean that Ireland could no longer prevent the EU from releasing the uncontrolled forces of laissez-faire capitalism in its trade negotiations with the developing world.
Actually, the EU has by far the most progressive policy in its international agreements. The Cotonou Agreement with over 70 African and Caribbean countries provides for transfers of €14 billion over the next few years. The EU is alone among the major powers in pushing for the inclusion of core labour standards in international agreements.
The current preoccupation on the extension of qualified majority voting on the part of opponents of the Nice Treaty is hard to understand. The only country to make any substantial use of the veto was Britain which, under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, blocked successive attempts to introduce social legislation of benefit to workers. The extension of qualified majority voting under the Nice Treaty is, from our perspective, a positive development.
As a general point, our view in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is that globalisation must be controlled and used to benefit people - not to impoverish them or to increase the trend towards inequality which is so evident in our time.
This requires governance structures at a global level, and the only way to bring that about is through the European Union. The Americans will not do it, and the only political entity capable of achieving ethical regulation of world trade is the EU.
IT is essential that Europe should be restored to its natural geographic space with an enlarged population of 550 million people so that its influence on the process of globalisation can be maximised. If anyone seriously thinks that Ireland, with our extraordinary dependence on US investment, can seriously challenge the values of US global capital on our own, they are not living in the real world.
We believe it is necessary to look beyond the Nice Treaty and to focus on the outcome of the Convention on the Future of Europe. This is where the really key decisions will be made.
We want to see social policy objectives given the same status as trade and economic objectives. This can best be done by incorporating the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the treaties. As of now the charter has the status of a political declaration but it does not have legal force.
There are two articles under the solidarity chapter which have a real and immediate importance for everyone concerned with workers' rights and defending public services. Article 28 confers the right to collective bargaining and collective action to defend the right of access to services of general economic interest. It is potentially a powerful antidote to the creeping privatisation of public services which are a feature of globalisation.
This is where the real battleground will be. We would prefer to be able to fight this battle together with the organised workers in the applicant countries and under the banner of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). If Nice is rejected, the workers in the applicant countries will not easily forgive us, organised labour will be divided and our capacity to achieve a good outcome at the convention will be diminished.
The great failure of organised labour in the last century was our inability to prevent the first World War. In Ireland, the emphasis of our history has insulated us from the reality of the conflicts which claimed so many lives in Europe.
For the working people of Europe, the peace which the EU has delivered is not some kind of optional extra added on to the real business of commerce and free markets. And there is still much to do to guarantee the long-term stability of central and eastern Europe. By virtue of its past failures, the trade union movement has a particular responsibility to support all political programmes that secure peace. The Nice Treaty is another step on the road to making Europe safer.
ICTU believes enlargement is the right course for Europe because it reduces the risk of further destabilising conflict fuelled by extreme nationalism. It offers the people of the accession countries the prospect of economic development such as Ireland has achieved. It consolidates the position of organised labour to advocate an economic and social order that is an alternative to the free-booting capitalism of the US and it creates a stronger bloc of countries to force the establishment of a global system of governance which has a better chance of bringing about sustainable development in the world at large.
We are asking workers to vote Yes to secure their futures in a safer, fairer Europe.
David Begg is general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and a member of The Irish Times Trust