International

At least seven Commissioners are participating in the annual European Business Summit in Brussels on 18th and 19th May. Yet only one is attending the four-yearly Congress of European Trade Unions to be held this week in Athens. ‘In these times, when working people are being asked to make sacrifice after sacrifice, you might expect the Commission to be listening a little less to major corporations and rather more to the trade union movement, for example,’ says SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong. ‘I find it extremely disappointing that relations here are once again so lop-sided.’

Homophobia and discrimination on the basis of sexuality remain major problems within the European Union. The European Parliament sees frequent discussion of the issue, but often this results in no more than general statements.