Brussels got a welcome burst of colour today as tens of thousands of trade unionists converged on its boulevards to express outrage at planned public spending cuts.
There was a carnival atmosphere on the rue Montoyer, with each delegation donning the colours of their union (lots of socialist red and work-and-safety-conscious fluorescents). The banners read like a Who’s who of Europe’s top unions, from Solidarinosc in Poland to Comisiones Obreras representing Spain, the main force behind a general strike back home.
Though Belgian and French unions seem to make up the bulk of the estimated 100,000 demonstrators, there was a creditable representation of workers from further afield.
As luck would have it, the protest was remarkably well timed.
Just as the workers were shouting their way past the European Commission’s Berlaymont HQ, the college of 27 Commissioners was busy endorsing plans that actively encourage public spending cuts – just the thing the unions want to prevent.
The Commission’s proposal, unveiled this afternoon, would impose fines on countries that are in breach of eurozone debt limits, strengthening those rules just as the unions think they should be laid aside for a few more months.
It forced José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, in an awkward spot, having to explain how his deficit-reduction plan was not at odds with his proclaimed support for the workers.
“I am convinced that the measures that are being taken are the best ones also for workers… Countries that undertook wiser [debt-cutting] measures in the good times are the ones with least social problems today, that’s a fact,” he said.
Organisers probably wouldn’t have known the meeting would be going on – the demo has been on the cards for months – though they would have been aware that EU finance ministers are meeting in Brussels tomorrow, for the second time this week.
The focus there is expected to be on financial regulation after the crisis, another bugbear of the trade unionists, who think that workers are paying for an economic downturn triggered by greedy bankers.
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