A social Europe is a must | Josef Bugeja

Josef Bugeja is GWU secretary general

At the State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s key concessions seemed to reflect the unease within the European Parliament and the wider constituencies.

We are living in an age of falling real wages. Workers are assailed by the threats of a technologically-driven market that seeks competitive advantage by clawing at workers’ rights—no right to disconnect, AI advances threatening redundancies, necessary climate transition plans that do not take into account the social cost this has on European citizens. And of course, there is also the genocide in Gaza that is continuing without Europe ever raising a solitary red flag against Israel.

It takes little to understand why the soul of Europe depends on its very accountability towards the goals it has set for itself—the New Green Deal, social and economic rights, but also to be on the right side of history. These issues affect European lives deeply.

The last half-decade has seen a world that suffered enormous challenges from global economic shocks but also the pressures of the green and digital transitions. Unless the EU takes action in the social field when it is most needed, the bloc will be unable to build a model of competitiveness built on strength. Instead, by leaning on more deregulation and wage suppression, it would be eating away at the very foundation of the European project. Social cohesion has to be built on strong workers’ rights that give member states resilience in the face of new global trade tensions, such as the EU-US framework trade agreement and rising competition from China.

Ursula von der Leyen’s concessions in the State of the EU speech showed the Commission can only ignore social democratic priorities at its own risk. A different tone was struck when the EC president pledged a housebuilding package to end homelessness, new workers’ rights, commitment on climate targets, and even proposing a partial suspension of the EU-Israeli trade agreement.

As Malta’s largest trade union, we take note of Von der Leyen’s announcement of a Quality Jobs Act, a much-needed direction for a Europe whose workers are facing falling real wages and rising precarity. It was the first social legislation of President von der Leyen’s second term after nine months, and there is undoubtedly no time to lose in enacting it as profits soar while wages fall. A Quality Jobs Act will have to meet the urgency and gravity of the situation faced by working people by guaranteeing fair pay, secure contracts, safe workplaces, and real prospects.

Just as the GWU is the proponent of mandatory unionisation for Maltese workers, we join the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in calling for a Quality Jobs Act that must ensure 80% of workers in every EU country are covered by collective agreements, with verified national plans put in place with trade unions. Worryingly, collective bargaining coverage across the EU fell from 66% in 2000 to just 56% by 2019. While this fuels inequality, we see a recipe for disaster when young workers are facing worsening economic insecurity, with growing cohorts of 25-34-year-olds living with their parents across most EU member states, and nearly 50% of minimum-wage earners under 35 unable to afford to live independently.

Similarly, as professed by the GWU in Malta, we support an EU Directive that guarantees safeguards against psychosocial risks, online harassment, and enforces the right to disconnect.

ETUC has also called for ethical public procurement rules that ensure public contracts are awarded only to organisations whose workers are covered by collective agreements; a Just Transition law that prevents chaotic redundancies; an ‘AI in the workplace’ directive to ensure AI systems uphold the ‘human in control’ principle and work in a transparent way which respects workers’ right; and regulation of subcontracting labour intermediaries to prevent exploitation.

The fact is you cannot have a high-quality economy that is built on low-quality jobs. Collective bargaining is the key to ensuring quality jobs that can also plug Europe’s labour shortages. This is the true path to competitiveness.

A decent wage can only be guaranteed through a collectively bargained contract, and that means every worker’s existing right to collective bargaining must be enforced and guaranteed.

The real test for the commission will be to see if Von der Leyen follows through on these pledges, or whether she will allow the European People’s Party to ride roughshod over this reformist promise, to split the pro-European centrist consensus in the parliament? Can she contain the zeal of her own party’s Manfred Weber in undermining the New Green Deal and watering down workers’ rights?

A divided house will only benefit the far-right and hard-right conservatives who despise rule of law reforms that keep in check authoritarian parties in government. Europe’s legitimacy rests on whether it can convince its citizens that democracy still protects them from precarity, exploitation, and the arbitrary violence of global markets and geopolitics.

Ursula von der Leyen has opened a door by putting forward the Quality Jobs Act, and signalling a tentative willingness to hold Israel accountable. These mark a shift from the commission’s usual technocratic aloofness. But words must be welded into law.

If Brussels shirks that responsibility, the gap between the EU’s lofty ideals and the daily lives of its workers will only widen into a chasm where resentment festers and the far right thrives.

Europe’s future strength lies in proving this union can be more than a market. It needs to prove it is a community that defends its people.