With the proposal for a Defence Readiness Omnibus, the European Commission aims to mobilise up to EUR 800 billion in defence-related investments and streamline procurement procedures that incentivise cooperation between Member States. In response, the ETUC calls for a European security strategy centred on peace, social justice, democracy, and workers’ rights.

Claes-Mikael Ståhl has been serving as Deputy General Secretary for the ETUC since 2021. He has extensive experience in the trade union movement and is specialised in collective bargaining, labour and European law, trade and standardisation. The first part of the interview was published in our last newsletter.

AK EUROPA: The EU aims to simplify defence procurement and make it more inter-European. What risks are involved there and what is the role of social conditionalities in this context?

Ståhl: I think that's one of the promising areas where Europe can make a big difference. Today, we have 27 armies with different standards. If we can establish more common standards, then we can probably increase efficiency and use the resources that we have in a much more coherent manner. That's one of the areas where the EU can make the biggest and most promising contribution towards security.

At the same time, we need to establish social conditionalities for how this happens. I have a long background in trade union work in Sweden. And, for example, in subcontracting, the further down you get in the contracting chain, the closer you get to organised crime. In an infrastructure project in Stockholm that we worked on some years ago, we saw very clearly that long chains of subcontracting create high security risks. At sublevel 4 or 5, there were criminal organisations more or less directly involved. You can also see that companies that have collective agreements are more likely to apply rules and laws, meaning this is a way of ensuring quality. It is also a security interest of having strong social conditionalities and good working conditions.

AK EUROPA: How can trade unions and the ETUC contribute to what defence and security decision-making in the EU will look like?

Ståhl: I think there's a lot we can do to ensure that there is good preparedness throughout Europe. For example, in Sweden, during the Second World War, a cooperative structure was set up between the employers, the trade unions, and the government. This enabled an exchange of understandings of security threats and increased cooperation on how to prepare for crises. That's where I think social partners can play a very important role. Because trade unions and employers, the social partners together, can contribute to preparedness and security politics as representatives of society. And I think that's a very good starting point for preparedness, at both national and European level, to have a joint understanding of the challenges we are facing in this increasingly volatile geopolitical world.

AK EUROPA: To conclude, what measures can be taken to ensure security apart from defence expenditures?

Ståhl: I think that one has to have a very broad understanding of what security means. Security policy is also ensuring the resilience of civil society, investments in infrastructure, in hospitals, and the public sector. If defence spending leads to weaker welfare states, rising inequalities, or declining trust in institutions, then this provides an opportunity for the populist right parties in Europe. That in itself is a security risk. If we want to create more secure and resilient societies, we have to address inequalities, and the diminishing promises of the welfare state. We need to restore hope and visions for a political future. This is not replacing security or military policies, but it can bring people into a more optimistic place.

The first part of the interview can be found here. The positions expressed in this interview do not necessarily reflect the positions of AK.

Further Information

AK EUROPA: Rising military spending in the EU from the workers´perspective. An Interview with Claes-Mikael Ståhl, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
AK EUROPA: At the centre of EU policy. Defence and rearmament 
AK EUROPA: The EU's plans for rearmament. Defence at the heart of politics
ETUC: Defence spending must not mean attacks on social budgets
ETUC: Resolution on peace and security
ETUC: Defending Europe means defending labour and environmental law
SIPRI: Military Expenditure Database
European Commission: Defence Readiness Omnibus