ETUC Open Letter

BS/lw Brussels, 7 July 2015 OPEN LETTER to:  EU Heads of States and Governments,  Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission,  Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament,  Donald Tusk, President of the European Council,  Xavier Bettel, President of the Council of the European Union,  Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank,  Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup,  Christine Lagarde, Director-General of the International Monetary Fund.

Dear Madam, dear Sir,

The events unfolding in Greece are of historic significance. Solutions must be found to keep Greece in the Eurozone and in the European Union. This requires political leadership, not a technocratic approach.

Greek people have voted against austerity, unemployment, and poverty that made Greek debt unsustainable. They have not voted against the EU or against the Euro.

We consider that this referendum is a clear signal that policies imposed during the last five years are socially unbearable and an economic failure. People must not be penalised for the way they voted.

EU leaders have now an unavoidable responsibility to find a sensible compromise. The solution should not be technical or left to the ECB, it must be political.

We are convinced that EU leaders should think hard and long before pushing Greece out of the Eurozone. Now is the moment to show what a European Union means.

We are calling on you to resume negotiations in good faith with the aim of rapidly reaching a socially fair and economically sustainable agreement with the Greek government.

Yours sincerely,

Bernadette Ségol Ignacio Fernandez Toxo Frances O’Grady ETUC General Secretary ETUC President TUC General Secretary

Reiner Hoffmann Yannis Panagopoulos Rudy De Leeuw DGB President GSEE President FGTB President

Marie-Hélène Ska Susanna Camusso Catelene Passchier CSC General Secretary CGIL General Secretary FNV Vice-President

Candido Mendez Erich Foglar Josef Středula UGT-E General Secretary ÖGB President CMKOS President

Laurent Berger Dimitar Manolov Bente Sorgenfrey CFDT General Secretary PODKREPA President FTF President

Eduardo Chagas Oliver Röthig France Sponem Perez ETF General Secretary Uni-Europa Regional ETUC Women’s Committee Secretary President Roger Mercatoris Eurocop Vice-President