Portuguese social partners express views on Lisbon and Vila da Feira summits

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The two European Council meetings organised under the Portuguese EU Presidency - in Lisbon in March 2000 and in Vila da Feira in June - gave the Portuguese social partners the opportunity to make their positions known on the issues debated, especially employment, economic reform and social cohesion, as they relate to Portugal.

Portugal held the EU Presidency in the first half of 2000. It held two European Council meetings - an extraordinary summit in Lisbon on 23-24 March, with the aim of strengthening employment, economic reform and social cohesion in the new "knowledge-based economy" (EU0004241F), and the normal half-yearly summit in Vila da Feira on 19-20 June. Both meetings gave the Portuguese social partners the opportunity to make known their positions on the issues dealt with at the summits, especially as they relate to the Portuguese situation.

Vila da Feira summit

The Portuguese Prime Minister met with the Portuguese social partners prior to the Vila da Feira European Council in June, just as he did before the March summit. At the June meeting, even though the social partners believed that the conclusions of the Lisbon summit could result in a qualitative leap forward in European social policy, they urged that a calendar of concrete measures should be adopted. Trade unions expressed some reservations, however, since although there are very positive references to recovering full employment in the Lisbon conclusions, these are not accompanied by economic policy measures. For the Portuguese unions, this has been evidenced by the decisions of EU finance ministers and the European Central Bank to adopt restrictive measures, such as increasing interest rates, and by their liberal view of monetary policies and focus on financial interests.

During the European Council at Vila da Feira, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) organised a trade union demonstration in favour of full employment and a social Europe. The meeting was expected to bring together approximately 25,000 workers, mostly from Spain and France. Unions affiliated to the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) and the General Workers' Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT) made a joint appeal to Portuguese workers to participate in the demonstration to express their dissatisfaction with the way the economic situation has been evolving in Portugal.

The results of Lisbon summit

According to the Portuguese Presidency the basic line of action decided at the Lisbon Summit is to enhance employment, economic reforms and social cohesion, so as to move towards a Europe based on innovation and knowledge. Its aims are centred on a redefinition at the highest level of the content of the European strategy for growth, competitiveness and employment, taking into account the new conditions (economic globalisation, the Seattle World Trade Organisation round, technological change, and the launch of the euro single currency). The central question that should guide the definition of this strategy is: How to develop an innovation- and knowledge-based economy with more and better jobs and social cohesion?

In March, after the Lisbon Summit, the Portuguese Confederation of Industry (Confederação da Indústria Portuguesa, CIP) and the Portuguese Confederation of Commerce (Confederação Portuguesa do Comércio, CCP) reacted positively to the measures approved, because they were geared toward economic development rather than social development. They believe that the EU has been stuck in the dichotomy of jobs and growth vs social cohesion and, although they consider the measures adopted as steps toward "liberation" from this division, they lament that liberalisation continues to be postponed. The summit produced a compromise that attempts to reconcile two different projects—social cohesion and liberalisation. The employers' associations, however, believe that problems like unemployment and business competitiveness could be solved simultaneously. They believe that the goal of increasing the employment rate to 70% by 2010 is an ambitious one.

On the other hand, the union confederations stated that there were many positive points in the document that the Portuguese Presidency presented to the Council. According to CGTP, however, there are contradictions between these policies and the practices of the Portuguese government policies. In addition, CGTP claims that problems of employment were only dealt with once during the summit and that no concrete measures came out of it, only general statements. One of the central questions relating to the labour market, the issue of precarious employment, was not focused on in the Council's preliminary documentation. There is, according to CGTP, a definite lack of measures to combat low-quality jobs and attacks against workers' guarantees. The confederation criticises liberalisation of the energy, transport and communication markets, and notes that neo-liberal policies are on the rise in the EU.

For UGT, the Lisbon summit did not come up to workers' expectations. Although its conclusions did introduce a new dynamic into the EU, the question remains of how they will be put into practice. UGT says that more policies on growth, development, employment and vocational training are needed to combat poverty and exclusion. In the face of the new information society, a new and better position for workers must be defined. There must also be a greater will to deal with structural problems, working time and leisure time issues, and to boost collective bargaining.

Events around the summit

Concurrent with the Lisbon summit, two other events took place where demands were made for concrete alternative solutions to the problems of employment and exclusion, and a solution to these problems at the Portuguese national level.

First, an "alternative" summit was held near the location of the European Council meeting. The participants discussed questions of the environment, models of development, social movements, the information society, discrimination and education. Seeking to examine the practical side of the "vague theories" perceived to be formulated at the Council meeting and ways to resolve the real issues, they questioned the impact of the Council on the neo-liberal policies that are seen to have increased social exclusion. The alternative summit focused on how the excluded can gain access to the information society and employment with full rights, the fight against poverty, social exclusion and discrimination. Among those present were representatives from the Brazil ian Workers and Land Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores e da Terra) and the "European marches" anti-unemployment group, along with about 50 other European and Portuguese civil and cultural organisations.

Second, CGTP organised a march for "quality employment with full rights", which the media considered to be one of the largest workers' demonstrations in recent years. It brought together between 40,000 and 50,000 demonstrators from the transportation, health, education, public service, hotel and restaurant and fishing sectors, as well as pensioners. A strike was also held by bus and train workers. The demonstration was organised to call attention to the trade union view that the national situation is a far cry from the measures proposed at the European Council and to demand: a fairer distribution of the national income, the growth of which is said not to have been accompanied by improved living and working conditions for the people; a policy of sustained rather than fragmented development; employment with full rights, and not simply more jobs; and, most importantly, measures to fight against clandestine work and the high rate of work-related accidents in construction, low levels of training and long working hours.

Commentary

The Portuguese trade unions are mobilising a considerable effort to cope with a number of the challenges confronting European society in the face of the "new economy" and "knowledge-based society". In a structural transformation process such as those occurring in financial markets and telecommunications, shifts in the economic, social, organisational and institutional framework of society can be expected. Innovation and competence-building, combined with social cohesion and a stronger social policy would be welcome. As part of this effort, demonstrations have been one of means of showing the engagement of the unions in this process.

The Portuguese government has also committed itself to ensuring the implementation of Lisbon summit's decisions. The Minister of Labour and Solidarity has publicly announced that the new "open method of EU coordination" approved during the Lisbon European Council is already being implemented: the Economic and Financial Affairs Council has accepted contributions from other Councils of Ministers - the Employment and Social Policy, Industry and Internal Market Councils - in formulating the EU broad economic policy guidelines (EU0005250F), which will in future include a greater number of long-range concerns, rather than more short-term ones, including ways of restructuring government expenditures and giving priority to policies promoting research, education and technological innovation, especially as regards the information society, as well as sustainable social protection and social inclusion. (Maria Luisa Cristovam)