Dec 16, 2024

“The General Secretary of Ferpa, Agostino Siciliano, attended the conference ‘Appeal of the Trade Unions of Pensioners from the Balkans for Social Rights and EU Enlargement’ in Belgrade upon the invitation of SPI CGIL.”

The pensioners’ trade unions of Slovenia and Croatia, along with the trade unions of the Western Balkan candidate countries as per the list of signatories of this document-, convened on December 4, 2024, in Belgrade, at the initiative of the SPI CGIL, in collaboration with the USP Nezavisnost and APTUS Catus organisations, with the participation of the Ferpa Secretary. The meeting aimed at evaluating the EU accession process, with the goal of contributing to the promotion of peace, interculturalism, human rights, dialogue between religions, education on global citizenship and international solidarity, and environmental protection, in line with the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda.

In the introductory part, all the Trade Unions expressed deep concern over the ongoing conflicts and strong hope for their urgent resolution through diplomatic solutions based on dialogue and new agreements between the parties. They strongly emphasized the need for the EU accession process to advance within a clear and reasonable timeframe, in contrast to the delays and setbacks that have marked its progress thus far. The lengthy and undefined timelines, the lack of determination on the part of the European Union in the implementation of an agenda that is often announced and never fulfilled and the failure to resolve ongoing issues in these areas are fostering mistrust among citizens towards the institutions and doubts about the genuine commitment to achieving the desired integration.

Due to the various global and regional crises, in a context of an increasingly aging population, millions of elderly and retired people, particularly women, are living in poverty and are vulnerable to a wide array of risks. Progress in the adoption of public improvement measures is inadequate, slow and uneven. Today, more than ever, reforming social protection systems with universal access is urgently needed to make them fairer, more sustainable, inclusive, effective, and capable of meeting people’s needs. In this direction, the discussion on the feasibilty of introducing a guaranteed pension should be resumed at the European level and within individual countries.

In order to start a new era of civil and economic development and coexistence based on social cohesion, it is essential to promote genuine, comprehensive social dialogue between trade union. representatives from the labour sector, pensioners, and civil society on the one hand, and public institutions on the other. This process, rooted in the genuine interests of the people, can serve as a catalyst for accelerating accession and can help overcome many of the existing obstacles.

The European Union and the European Commissioner for Enlargement in particular, will have to urge individual governments to move in this direction, adopting the shared practices for informing and consulting trade union representatives. The organisations signing this document commit to advocating within FERPA at the European level, for the ETUC to take on a role in this sense, and within their respective countries to request dialogue tables with their respective governments.

In support of these objectives, the organisations of the countries concerned will promote a meeting with the European Commissioner for Enlargement, to request that trade union involvement be guaranteed at various levels of the accession process in each country. Special attention will be given to engaging, in coordination with confederations, with pensioners’ trade union organisations on social and welfare issues through information and consultation mechanisms.

The unity and shared objectives of all participating organisations, built upon the historically consolidated relations and solidarity, represent a crucial and decisive factor in advancing the European Union’s enlargement and in upholding the values of peace and participatory democracy.

The participating trade unions consider it appropriate to schedule a meeting, tentatively before the summer of 2025, to review the overall situation and the outcomes of the planned initiatives, and to assess the continuation of the joint path.

PENSIONERS’ TRADE UNIONS:

SPI CGIL SUS SUH UBIH FSMPK(BSPK) SSM SSCG USPS SSSS NEZAVISNOST

Italy Slovenia Croatia Bosnia-Herzegovina Kosovo (observer) North Macedonia Montenegro Serbia