Rights charter agreed

The leaders of the European Union (EU) endorsed a charter of fundamental rights for the EU (see Labour Research November 2000 page 8) at the summit last month in Nice. However, they did not make it legally binding at this stage, saying in their final communiqu‚ that "the question of the charter's force will be considered later".

This was despite a demonstration of between 60,000 and 70,000 trade unionists through the streets of Nice, organised by the ETUC.

For the first time in an ETUC demonstration of this sort there was a TUC presence which was more than symbolic. Around 100 UK trade unionists, including the president of the general union GMB, Mary Turner, travelled to Nice to take part in the demonstration.