Programme online conference
- Plenary A






Welcome speech by: Luca Visentini, General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation
Chair: Philippe Pochet, General Director, European Trade Union Institute
Opening speech by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
- Laurent Berger, President, European Trade Union Confederation
- Philippe Lamberts, MEP, Co-president The Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament
- Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency
- Maria João Rodrigues, President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS)
- Plenary B




Keynote speaker: Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), and Founder/Director of UCL's Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
Chair: Luca Visentini, General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation
Panel with national trade union leaders
- Reiner Hoffmann, Chair of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
- Inga Ruginienė, President of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation
- Josef Středula, President of ČMKOS Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions
- Pepe Álvarez, General Secretary of the General Workers Union (UGT)
- Miranda Ulens, General Secretary of the General Labour Federation of Belgium (FGTB/ABVV)
About the event
with interpretation in English / en français / en español
Timing: all times are Brussels time CET
The need to effectively tackle global warming puts under pressure the existing industrial relations models in Europe. A new logic of sustainability needs to be incorporated into the social contracts in order to (re)build harmonious labour relations. A viable world of labour requires a new sustainability paradigm, which encompasses all three of its dimensions: economic, social and environmental.
Achieving economic sustainability (within the planetary boundaries) has become more challenging. Actual economic growth has come at a critically high cost in terms of inequality of opportunities and outcomes, planetary resources, biodiversity and environmental degradation, thus undermining both social and environmental sustainability. Social sustainability is also likely to come under increasing pressure from the impending fourth industrial revolution. In turn, widening inequality and climate change are forcing us to question the way we measure prosperity and wellbeing.
The magnitude of the required paradigm shift to ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability implies large-scale economic and societal change and serious deliberation. All workers need to be actively involved in a just transition and nobody should be left behind. Massive societal coalitions will have to be built for a shared vision to emerge and for the just transition, with fairly distributed costs, to be supported. But this is also an opportunity to redefine what we consider to be our societal goals and how they relate to the current focus on (green) growth.
The next ETUI-ETUC conference will pursue different lines of inquiry and discussion, seeking to understand not only the challenges before us but also to identify what we can do today and tomorrow in order to establish a new social, economic and environmental contract. What targets or objectives should be set, and how might they be reached? How can we create a sustainable European growth model? How can we reverse the trend towards growing inequalities? What kind of Green New Deal is a realistic and feasible prospect for Europe? What elements of justice, solidarity and equity constitute a fair and sustainable social foundation? What are the roles of the market, the state, industry and civil society? And what role can trade unions play to build a sustainable future that addresses all of these dimensions?
The conference will be online. In order to receive the instructions on how to join please register.
Follow the conference via social media at #SocialEcoContract21
Meet speakers































































