SOCIAL AFFAIRS: ETUC CLAIMS THERE REALLY IS ONLY ONE SOCIAL MODEL.

• Position: European Trade Union Confederation

The European Trade Union Confederation is sticking to its guns in defending the view that there is one single 'European social model' - as opposed to 25 disparate ones. ETUC General Secretary John Monks told journalists in Strasbourg on November 16 that this is clearly the case, as there is now one single market covering 25 countries. UK Labour MEP Stephen Hughes, co-chair of the Trade Union Intergroup and spokesman on the Employment and Social Affairs Committee for the Socialist Group (PES) backed him up by supporting the same viewpoint.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso had reminded the October 27 summit of EU leaders in Hampton Court of the political need not to necessarily favour one national model over another: "We've moved on from our polarised views on whose social model is better - now there's a good spirit and we agree each can do its own and we have new consensus".

But such warm feelings were not expressed by Mr Monks, who underscored that there cannot be one single labour market - as is increasingly evident in certain sectors including construction, hotels, catering and road transport - without some common standards. This pertains to the conditions and jurisdiction under which mobile migrant workers operate, as well as the status of collective agreements in the Single European Market. Mr Monks underscored that there is an urgent need to answer at European level questions including whether Internal Market law...