A seminar on the topic “The rule of law and a functioning democracy as prerequisites for social welfare: the role of workers' organisations” was held in Barcelona, Spain from 21-23 September 2023, organised by ECWM - EBCA - MTCE (European Christian Workers Movement) in collaboration with EZA and financed by the European Union.
The seminar took place as scheduled with 36 participants from a total of 7 European countries (6 of which are EU states: Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal and additional guests from Switzerland).
The seminar focused on the design of the rule of law, the respective democratic policy challenges in the various countries and their effects in terms of social prosperity. The framework was structured so that the expertise of the participants, all of whom are active in employee organisations on a voluntary or full-time basis, could be engaged in effective discussions on specific issues. Ms. Gwendoline Delbos Corfielf (MEP), Mr. Toni Mora, President of the Council for Economic and Social Work of Catalonia (CTESC), and Karl Brunner, Co-President of the EBCA also explored the topic from a specific perspective.
The first group discussions focused on an analysis of the situation in the respective countries with an emphasis on particularly promising initiatives that should be supported. The second group work focused on the specific design of democracy and the rule of law, and examined the question of which strategies can be used to promote positive developments and overcome challenges in a way that focuses on the contribution from each country. The third discussions in the groups looked at the successful initiatives by the individual organisations, studied additional activities that could be specifically supported or adopted and addressed the issue of which particularly vulnerable groups should receive special attention. The results of the group work were collected along with the suggestions from the presentations and subsequent discussions and were incorporated into the final declaration, which is attached here.
Ms. Delbos Corfielf contributed her expertise regarding the rule of law problem in Hungary and other countries. She also presented the EU instruments for establishing the rule of law in the member states and highlighted potential starting points for optimisation. The thoughts of Mr. Karl Brunner centred around the value basis of democracy. How should we think about the coexistence of the individual and society, and what guidelines do we derive from the building blocks of Christian social teaching? He also stated an example of the ethics of political virtue. Mr. Toni Mora explained the special role of trade unions in the fair organisation of society, where he emphasised that, in his view, it was necessary to develop the appropriate working methods.
This issue was emphasised by the introduction of three specific initiatives which provided some practical insights on how to implement the various considerations. The initiatives to support migrants, homeless people and women forced into prostitution made it particularly clear, among others, that commitment to a civil society represents a substantial contribution towards an effective implementation of the rule of law for supposedly marginalised groups. The discussions also revealed that even modest initiatives can make a substantial contribution to democracy in a country.
The choice of the seminar topic proved to be particularly successful as, in almost all countries of origin, there is a tendency to question democratic processes and institutions. The growing popularity of right-wing extremist groups in particular, which have gained power through democratic structures while also questioning these processes, should prompt a necessary and unified response from a broad civil society. This is precisely where employee organisations can make a practical contribution. We assume that the positive exchanges during the seminar will result in several such initiatives in various countries.