Preface

by
Ernst Breit

In a resolution adopted in July 1999, the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has correctly stated:

"1. Europe is becoming more and more of an integrated economic area in which thousands of companies carry out their activities across traditional borders. This reality calls for the Europeanisation of trade unions and for a further increase in their capacity to act at European level through the European Trade Union Confederation and the European Industry Federations.

2. It demands, too, the development of cross-border solidarity in order that the rights of workers on professional placements may be guaranteed and defended irrespective of their national trade union affiliation. ..."

Particularly in times of economic and societal changes which are also affecting Europe, trade unions remain important representatives of workers at national and European level. The socio-political changes in Central and Eastern Europe, the collapse of the political systems there have led to the freedom of personal development and of economic activities. Particularly the debates on the accession of Central and Eastern European neighbour countries to the European Union (EU), however, have led to many questions and feelings of insecurity in the EU as well as in the countries to accede.
The European trade union organisations, above all the ETUC, as well as national trade unions have started to intensively commit themselves to this process at a very early point of time as trade unions play a special and important role in such political and economic processes of transformation.
The large stocks of documents and publications in our Archive and Library also give information on this process - and thus, provide an overview of a special dimension of the developments in Europe regarding trade union politics and European politics. In view of the current discussion about EU enlargement these stocks will meet with a further growing public interest in Europe.

For this reason, I strongly welcome the fact that with this subject module of the "FES-Net-Source: History and Politics" of the Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation on the European trade union movement, a selection of documents and publications in digitised format is made directly accessible to users via the Internet.
This information offer will make it possible to enrich history classes and political education in schools as well as events in the field of political and trade union adult education in Germany and Europe. We would be glad if you made use of this opportunity!

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Important functions of Ernst Breit in the international trade union movement: President of the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International (PTTI, 1978-82), Vice-president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU, 1982-90), President of the European Trade Union Congress (ETUC, 1985-91)