“Social Justice in a rearming Europe” was the subject of the “EZA Brussels conference” of this year taking place on 3 March 2026. The conference was funded by the European Union.
As Europe accelerates its rearmament amid renewed geopolitical confrontation, a key question arises: how can this security turn be reconciled with the European Union’s commitment to peace, solidarity, and respect for human dignity? The EZA 2026 Brussels Conference addressed this question by examining Europe’s current security and defence agenda from the perspective of workers and their organisations.
The conference explored the role of trade unions in advancing a comprehensive understanding of security – one that goes beyond the military dimension to include diplomacy, multilateral cooperation, social justice, and the protection of human dignity.
It also discussed the social and economic consequences of rising military expenditure, focusing on how increased defence budgets are financed, the trade-offs they entail, and their effects on growth, employment, and inequality.
Finally, the conference turned to the Defence Readiness Omnibus, assessing how this new package aimed at accelerating defence preparedness may affect employment conditions and labour standards, and how workers’ organisations can engage constructively in the forthcoming policy debate.
Opening-quote Luc Van Den Brande, President EZA
“Democratic decision-making, international law and rules, truth and values must continue to guide us. As a training organization, EZA takes this responsibility seriously. Our aim is not to provide simple answers, but to foster informed debate. If you leave this conference less satisfied with easy answers and more attentive to the complexities of Europe’s security decisions, then we will have fulfilled our mission.”
Keynote Speech: The Challenge of Peace by Anne-Cécile Robert, Deputy Director, Le Monde Diplomatique
The keynote speaker starts explaining the new world based on power politics. And the rise of China, the claim of Russia and the rise of the Global South. EU must take the lead of the 115 countries in the UN who voted for respect of the international laws. Human rights are elements of all kinds of cultures in the world, and the role of diplomacy was a keystone for a peaceful settlement of disputes.
Ms Robert also confirmed that the EU's experience based on cooperation has yielded more than constant conflict and war. The UN's founding charter was very idealistic and pragmatic, and very wise, now sidelined for the sake of power politics. The danger in unstable situations is that this can lead to accidents.
To circumvent the wise rules, many lies are now being spread to remain within the international agreements. An old example was the fabricated presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
The new world looks very complex. The EU reaction on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was impeccably correct. But not the same for the reaction on the Middle East.
Messages for EU polices are :
-What is going on now is paving the path for extremist thinking.
-Defending human rights and values is now more than ever necessary. We must hold strongly on to our core principles.
-We need coherence.
Remarks from the participants:
-Majority of UN countries are not democracies.
-How to work with liberal and illiberal democracies?
-EU must search for the missing aspects for an equalized hegemonic position of the EU in relation with the US. In panel 2 Dr. Kaczmarczyk states that in the UN the EU has lost its credibility.
In panel I General Christophe Gomart (MEP), Orry Van de Wauwer (Pax Christi), Irene Wintermayr (ILO) and Ludovic Voet (ETUC) discussed the Multilateralism, diplomacy and social justice in the EU’s security strategy
Take aways:
ETUC: Social justice is not the core of peace, but it’s an important cornerstone. And the unions see that investing in defence is not followed by an increase of activity or workforce. Production is simply shifting.
MEP: Soldiers want to defend their country; they do not like war as a political weapon. Weapon production is not a stable activity. Most of the weapons are bought, just to have it. To show power. And a lot of systems remain for 30 to 40 years. Maintenance is sometimes more important than production. But there is also a core of reality in the old Roman saying that to prevent war your must prepare for war.
Pax Christi: Defence is framed as security and therefor we must prepare for war. But it is proven that cooperation is the best security. But we all can notice that this is not anymore the broad respected baseline/value. War is only deepening the insecurity.
ILO advocates for the multilateral human-centred approach. Social justice is very important to deal with frustration. Frustration is a driver for aggression. Social injustice is a real security risk.
Remarks from the participants:
-In Portugal they noticed an increase of jobs related to the higher investment in defence.
-How remaining peace without preparing for war?
-Can peace be reached by a combination of social justice and aggression?
In panel II Dr: Nan Tian (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)), Dennis Radtke (MEP) and Dr. Patrick Kaczmarczyk (Uni Mannheim) discussed the military spending, growth, employment and social trade-offs.
Take aways:
Tian: The defence percentage reaches the highest level since the cold war. Spending in the defence industry will not bring us more growth.
Kaczmarczyk: financing by public depth without limits is the new EU position. And defence spending are pushing back social spendings and spendings on mobility. The big difference between USA and EU: The American market is real big single market with more capital, more research and more export. The Euare 27 separated markets without cooperation and common research.
Looking at Russia the EU has much more military power, but the spending is inefficient and not coordinated. Systems are not compatible.
Radtke: We must realize that we have to defend ourselves. Others will not do it for us. We must focus on security and defence, and all the other topics (social justice) are maybe important but are secondary. When we are caught off guard, social justice will not defend us.
Trump only looks at 2 responses on his actions. The financial markets and the red lines of the Republican Fraction. Dr. Patrick contradicts that by stating that the American FED is stronger than the international financial market. They can easily step in when others want to sell American papers
In panel III we put the spotlight on the Defense Readiness Omnibus with Paraskevi Papantoniour (Head of Unit A3, DG DEFIS) and Isabelle Barthès (IndustriALL).
DG DEFIS: The omnibus defence was result of a broad consultation of stakeholders. The Member States (MS) sit in the driver seat for defence. The omnibus is also a tool for the raise to 5% of the GDP for the defence budget in the frame of the NATO. EU can support by regulatory schemes. Guiding tools are spending together, more investment after the period of under-investment with the result we have an artisanal production capacity. The omnibus is not deregulation. It is a simplification on permitting, access of capital, use of chemical substances, cutting red tape on defence public procurements for joint procurements and more transparency in granting, etc. Working time directives was not open for consultation or changes, because it was not necessary.
IndustriAll detect on the floor many problems. Defence industry is a fundament in the value chain, as example for the steel industry. Discussion on quality jobs. More risks for the workers. Union sees only a ramping up of the work(ing)hours related to the fact that there is an increase in part-time work. Another political problem is that we don’t buy together and not by each other. The reality is very complex. Sometimes are jobs in the maintenance more important than in productions. And what is real of this dual use productions.
Conclusions Piergiorgio Sciacqua (EZA Co-President) recalled the words of Pope Paul VI: “Development is the new name for peace.” The reference echoed a central theme of the conference discussions — that security policy and social justice cannot be separated if Europe wishes to build a lasting and sustainable peace.
The geopolitical situation has changed. We must think how we can adapt. Maybe can a joint army be the base for more social cohesion?
EU cluster is for a lot of people attractive.
We look at Russian terror and an American crazy guy. Sometimes the comment of this leaders is not understandable. For instance when Putin says that the rule of international law is not respected in Iran.
We must strengthen our identities and missing now: Intellect dimension, bravery, technology.