Posts Tagged Protests

I am back from my holidays and a blogging hiatus to find that  EU finds it easier to rally behind a mindless G20 Obama love-in on fiscal and bank bailouts than it is to hold a summit on preserving jobs.

EU heads of state and government have decided to run away from cancel a Prague meeting, originally scheduled for May 7, which aimed to bring together national leaders with businesses and trade unions.

Only last week, the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso was insisting that it would be a “fundamental error” not to hold the summit.

“Our public opinion would not understand, it would be unacceptable that EU leaders meet at the highest level and that they discuss the problems of the banks and not social problems. That they discuss the problems of the financial sector and not that of employment. That would be really unacceptable,” he said on Mar 18.

Oh well.

Nicolas Sarkozy was the first to beat the retreat at an EU summit last Thurs night as back home over a million French citizens took to the streets in demonstrations against his administration, the most unpopular in over 50 years of the French Fifth Republic.

The French President was insistent that he would rather not face the music at a summit that was bound to become a Mayday focus for international protests and growing social discontent.

“Mr Sarkozy was most emphatic that he did not wish to provide French people or trade unions with another opportunity to protest,” said one official close to talks.

Read more>>

Update: Over on main EUobserver news, Honor Mahony quotes a Czech official, who says: “A number of countries felt it would raise too optimistic expectations before the European elections.”

Is it unreasonable to expect EU leaders to do something about unemployment?