Interview: Time to pour money into green jobs[fr][de] 

"The European Commission's fiscal stimulus plan is a good start, but member states should be more ambitious and mirror the scale of the $700 billion US plan for economic recovery," said Monks, who is secretary-general of ETUC, the European Trade Union Confederation.

Expressing his belief that Europe is at a crossroads, Monks called on EU leaders to seize the opportunity to "reorient the European economy towards sustainability" and invest "more strongly in renewable energy, sustainable engines and new lifestyles".

Up till now, financial empires have attracted the greatest mathematical brains of younger generations, explained Monks. At the same time, serious companies found it difficult to raise funding for more sustainable production models. "Because investors could get higher returns [in the financial market], they did not sufficiently support the next wave of development which the world needs: environmental engineering," he added. "But that era has passed," he said.

According to Monks, EU leaders can "make Europe genuinely the world leader in environmental engineering [and] in reducing carbon emissions and sustainability," but they need to give themselves the means to do so. "I don't see the private sector supplying any of the money needed - it is too risky," Monks argued. "I hope that much of the 1.5% [of GDP recovery plan] would go towards encouraging industries to invest in the green economy."

In the absence of a coherent EU-wide industrial policy, single market rules will need to reflect the fact that some industries must be helped, the trade union chief explained. "We haven't got a public subsidy policy and yet the car plants are lining up for help," said Monks, stressing that if the US and Sweden were to go ahead with plans to bail out carmakers, it would not be long before FIAT, Peugeot or Opel came knocking on Berlusconi, Sarkozy and Merkel's doors, he noted.

"People are increasingly looking at their nation state to solve their problems and make big investments for better and decent jobs," the trade union leader continued. "Nicolas Sarkozy might have said 'we are all socialists now', but he is pragmatic enough to know that the tide has turned. How long for? I don't know. But ETUC will make sure that it turns some more," stressed Monks.

The ETUC chief expressed hope that the demand for a more social approach would influence the EU elections in June 2009. However, opposition parties will not necessarily attract greater support than those in power, Monks predicts, noting that "people are quite supportive of what their governments are doing at the moment in Europe". But this is not necessarily very good for Europe, he warned, because the word on the tip of everyone's tongues "will be nationalisation".

ETUC is planning a huge demonstration in Strasbourg on 16 December ahead of a European Parliament vote on the revision of the EU's Working Time Directive. A positive vote in Parliament would weaken the directive and allow a proliferation of opts-out and on-call time, fears the union chief. "I regard the present situation as a regression," said Monks, noting that a lot of workers would be under increased pressure to work longer hours. 

To read the interview in full, please click here.