HUNGARIAN PRESIDENCY : TRADE UNIONS REINTRODUCE IDEA OF SOCIAL PROGRESS PROTOCOL.

• Position: Brief article

Convinced that the path chosen by the European Union to exit the crisis is wrong, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) calls on the Hungarian Presidency to support a European recovery plan matched with a social and ecological New Deal equivalent to 1% of the Union's GDP.

In its memorandum, published on 11 January, the ETUC calls on the Hungarian Presidency to promote the adoption of its social progress protocol to provide clarification and to establish, without ambiguity, the relationship between fundamental rights and the free market economy. Already championed in 2009, this idea could be relaunched under the Hungarian Presidency, responsible for drawing up a revision of the treaties in order to create a mechanism to resolve the crisis.

"Workers who are paying the price of this crisis are growing increasingly angry and their anger is justified. [ ] European leaders can and must do better," declared the ETUC. "The EU's 2020 strategy does not provide an answer for a credible exit from the...