Social summit in Brussels: Merkel tired, Barroso blablate and the social partners are bored
(B2) The Social Tripartite Summit meeting has been expedited. Even before its end, the European Commission had already published a press release welcoming the outcome of the social dialogue. Ditto for the diplomats of the European Council who had already integrated, 10 days before the meeting, its result (unsurprisingly).
During the presentation to the press, Angela Merkel seemed very tired and stuck to vague generalities on flexicurity, globalization and the need for social dialogue. Questioned by journalists on wage moderation, discrimination between employees of subcontractors and others or Airbus, she refused to answer. Like José-Manuel Barroso, she clung to figures of growth (up) or unemployment (down) to proclaim her unfailing optimism in the ... Lisbon strategy.
As for the social partners, their speaking time was very limited. Both Ernest-Antoine Seillère for BusinessEurope (private employers) and even more so John Monks for the ETUC (unions) had a small portion of speaking time. UEAPME was silenced and CEEP (public employers) chose not to come to the press conference. Likewise, the Federal Vice-Chancellor, F. Müntefering, and the European Commissioner for Employment, V. Spidla, have been dumb....
So useless, this meeting? It would be too easy... The meeting has an interest, to associate, to keep informed the social partners of the European summit. But certainly there is a problem of method and content to be settled. Method, because we cannot mix social subjects with all the subjects on the agenda of a Summit, from the Middle East to flexicurity. Content, too, an agenda, a little more dense, precise, with expected decisions could be programmed. Left to go a failure if there is no agreement. But such a reign of emptiness is bad for everyone. For the credibility of Europe among citizens. For the credibility of social Europe and the social partners in the eyes of other European actors.
