The far right offers no answers to the challenges Europe faces in reinvigorating its industry amid the digital and green transitions.
The results of the European Parliament election are a wake-up call. There is (still) a democratic majority in the parliament—meaning there is no need, or excuse, for backroom deals with any part of the anti-worker far right. Any co-operation with far-right forces in the parliament must be rejected.
This is not a ‘shock’ result for trade unionists in Europe, but it should be a call to action. Years of austerity, attacks on good-quality jobs and ever-growing inequalities have damaged citizens across the European Union and undermined their trust in politicians, fragmenting societies and creating a seed-bed for the anxiety and insecurity on which the far right has been able to feed.
‘Othering’ convenient scapegoats to sow division and hatred, the far right offers easy answers to the complex challenges we face. Yet there are no national solutions to these transnational problems, be they economic, social, geopolitical or environmental. We need European solutions and for that we need a social, fair and future-proofed EU that delivers concretely for all European citizens.
Democrats across the wider labour movement must urgently work together to deliver what Europe needs to tackle the challenges of our times: investment, cohesion and solidarity. For industriAll Europe, this means a strong, proactive European industrial policy which cannot be delivered alongside austerity. We must fight to overturn the recent decisions of the European Parliament and Council of the EU on fiscal rules.
Enormous transformation
Industrial workers are embarked on an enormous transformation of our industries through digitalisation and in pursuit of climate goals. The latest European industrial production figures show that there is still a major crisis in manufacturing, especially in energy-intensive sectors, which have been hit hard by high energy prices over recent years.
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Neoliberalism is however leading us not to decarbonisation but to deindustrialisation. The associated austerity, labour-market ‘flexibility’ and privatisation only exacerbate the problems we face today.
Also related to market fundamentalism is the embrace of short-termism by multinational corporations, reflected in their preference for cost-cutting, excessive dividends and share buybacks over reinvestment of profits. This has further undermined the dynamism and resilience of manufacturing in Europe.
Moreover, the EU cannot talk about ‘open strategic autonomy’ yet do nothing when industries are threatened by massive foreign subsidies, while major economies adopt aggressive policies to protect their markets or export their huge overcapacity. Europe cannot just remain silent and passive.
Innovative solutions
It is not too late to change direction. Exceptional times demand innovative solutions, not more of the same, failed policies. That’s why industriAll Europe welcomed the EU’s decision to tax imports of Chinese electric vehicles additionally last week. Protective tariffs alone are however not an industrial policy.
Industrial workers want a comprehensive strategy to transform Europe’s industries, such as the automotive sector, to address the scale and pace of the climate challenge. All public support and funding must have social strings attached to promote collective bargaining, worker participation and good-job guarantees.
Investments in charging infrastructure, purchase incentives, supply of batteries and raw materials, as well as abundant, decarbonised electricity generation and a genuine, just-transition framework for workers, are the key enabling elements to secure the future of European industry. Short-sighted, nationalistic populism is no substitute for the holistic industrial strategy Europe needs to match those of its competitors—an approach that addresses all the dimensions of the challenges ahead.
The trade-union movement must stand together to counter the siren songs of the far right. IndustriAll Europe recognises that the election results mean that the political centre will be able to find a coalition. Yet if a ‘business as usual’ approach is allowed to take hold, in five years time and at national elections in between we risk fuelling hateful and divisive forces.
We must collectively debate how to address this, as a united trade-union movement. Another way is possible—another Europe is possible.
Judith Kirton-Darling is general secretary of industriAll European Trade Union. She was a British member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2020 and confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.