“Quality pensions, strong social security systems! Towards a social Greater Region”.

Since 2012, the Conseil syndical interrégional de la Grande Région (CSIRGR), with some 600,000 members belonging to eight trade union organizations in the Grand Est, Luxembourg, Wallonia/German-speaking community of Belgium, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, has been organizing its “Entretiens de Remich” at CEFOS in Remich, thus enabling the networking of trade union representatives at company level. The 11th edition of the “Entretiens de Remich” focused on the social and economic profile and value of a social and therefore modern Greater Region.

The participants rejected the attempts of some governments and associations to make the Greater Region, located at the heart of Europe, more attractive economically by means of a “low-cost”, rather supply-oriented strategy. On the contrary, the example of Luxembourg shows that the “brain drain” is increasingly directed towards the highest wages and social standards. With more than 267,300 daily cross-border workers and by far the fastest-growing population, the small nation-state at the heart of the Greater Region has proven that the fairy tale of “cheaper supply” is a success story only in the ideological books of a few neoliberals, but not in real life. According to acting president Eugen Roth, DGB Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland, the exciting question is how the entire Greater Region can be gradually brought up to Luxembourg’s standard of living. The term “laboratory” or “test laboratory” often appears in statements by politicians, chambers of commerce and employers’ associations, even at the national level. Eugen Roth puts it this way: “You can negotiate with the unions if, in the spirit of best practice models, the highest social and living standards, such as those in Luxembourg, are the guiding principle. This is the only way to ensure the success of the experiments.”

For the national and European levels, such best-practice approaches are crucial for successful policy design in broader contexts. Social disparities within the Greater Region must be overcome. This is not only a matter of social justice, but also of economic common sense. Doing things better, rather than cheaper, is the hallmark of forward-looking modernity in the struggle to attract employers and recruit skilled workers across borders. Proposals on this subject can be found in the numerous reports and expert opinions of the Economic and Social Committee of the Greater Region (CESGR). “Successful cross-border cooperation requires the highest social standards and nothing else,” said CSIRGR President Eugen Roth.

CSIRGR press release, October 20, 2002.