TENS of thousands of demonstrators marched in Paris yesterday to urge the EU to give higher priority to jobs and remind new French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, of a campaign pledge to stop further austerity.
Members of all major trade unions except the independent Force Ouvriere (FO) marched through the capital behind a banner proclaiming "Europe for Jobs" in the first major rally since Mr Jospin's Socialist-led government swept to power last week.
Unions want EU leaders at next week's Amsterdam summit to lay the foundations of a more socially-minded Europe that lays more stress on jobs and less on financial belt-tightening in a drive for a single European currency.
"This demonstration shows a spectacular increase in awareness around Europe of the need for all European workers to co-ordinate their demands," said Mr Louis Viannet, head of the Communist-led CGT union.
Ms Nicole Notat, head of the pro-Socialist CFDT, which is France's biggest union ahead of the CGT, said: "Yes, we need the single (European) currency. Yes, we need Europe for good economic development but that won't be enough to build jobs."
The marchers included about 700 workers from French car-maker Renault's Vilvoorde factory in Belgium protesting at controversial plans to shut the plant. Mr Jospin promised during the election campaign to push Renault to explore alternatives to the shutdown.
The French march was one of a series across Europe called by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) for May 28th. French unions postponed it until yesterday to avoid a clash with the snap parliamentary election.
Mr Jospin has pledged to give top priority to reducing record 12.8 per cent unemployment. He plans to create 700,000 jobs and cut the working week from 39 hours to 35 with no loss of pay over five years.
He has also set conditions for joining the euro from 1999 and promised he will not further tighten austerity to qualify. In addition, he has pledged not to raise taxes overall.
Both the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, which has two ministers in the new government that took office last week, had said they supported yesterday's march.