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TechnoratiEuropean trade unions protest against austerity
European Trade Unions staged a day of protests in Brussels on Wednesday against European government austerity measures. Protesters ringed the European Commission building in Brussels also to protest the creation of a permanent EU emergency fund. European Union leaders are set to vote on the plan by the end of the week.
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" I label these plans as the new Treaty of Versailles," says John Monks, General Secretary of European Trade Union Confederation. "They're punishment terms [...] They are very bad for countries in trouble," he added.
Organisers of the protests called the austerity measures a plan to hurt the victims of the crisis.
The unions also called for the creation of a tax on financial transactions and joint eurozone-wide bonds. This idea was rejected by Germany and France.
Meanwhile, in Greece, protesters clashed with police outside the parliament just hours after the government agreed to cut wages in the public sector.
The austerity measures were imposed on Greece by the European Union and IMF in return for a 110 billion-euro bailout.
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