Tuesday

6th Jun 2023

Interview

Belgium's trade unionist running to replace Juncker

  • Nico Cue is one of two candidates for the Party of the European Left (Photo: European Parliament)

Nico Cue, a retired Belgian trade union leader vying to become the next European Commission president, appears relaxed.

On the second floor of the European Left Party headquarters in Brussels, he lays out his vision for a European Union he says has lost its credibility.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"There is a form of fear that is installing [itself] in Europe because of this project," he says, drawing links to the impact of austerity measures that ravaged many in Greece and elsewhere.

Born in Spain, his parents fled dictator Francisco Franco to seek refuge in Belgium in 1962.

Some ten years later, Nico landed his first job at FN Herstal, a leading firearms manufacturer 100-percent owned by the Belgian socialist regional Walloon government.

The 62-year old would spend years at FN Herstal, describing the weapons company as one where people fought for equal work and equal pay.

"The story is that is was a private company that stockholders had practically abandoned, and so we succeeded in turning it into a public sector [company] to stop it from closing ... and that was in the 1990s and it had 1,200 workers and where I worked for 22 years," he says.

Cue said FN Herstal needs to be 100-percent publicly owned to ensure that the weapons, which include small caliber firearms to .50 cal machine guns, don't end up in the wrong hands.

But earlier this year, a joint investigation by Bellingcat and others published in the Belgian daily Le Soir, found that Saudi forces are in fact using FN Herstal manufactured guns in their brutal four-year war in Yemen.

Divisions and lost seats

Today, there are no far-left Belgian MEPs in the European Parliament.

The far-left GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament is also projected to lose seats, dropping from 52 to 46, after the May elections.

But Cue remains hopeful. On 26 May, Belgium will have a regional and national election.

The far-left Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB) is polling well in Wallonia and Cue says a Belgian PTB may end up as a European MEP.

"Four years ago it was one or two percent, and now it has increased a lot," he says, noting the PTB has up to 14 percent support in French-speaking Wallonia, around 10 percent in Brussels, and some six percent in Dutch-speaking Flanders.

The plan is to secure a left-wing majority in Wallonia, along with the socialists and the ecologists, and then reproduce that victory in Brussels.

"It is very possible in Wallonia, possible in Brussels, the problem is in Flanders," he says.

Far-left divisions elsewhere, such as in France, is not making life any easier for the European Left, a point acknowledged by Cue.

'Idiots'

"Right now it is too late to unite just ahead of the elections but I hope that just afterwards we could have a discussion and stop acting like idiots because that is what it is, acting like idiots and this is not a strategy," he said.

Earlier this year, Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek former finance minister spearheading the DiEM25 movement, another far left party, made similar comments.

"If the European Left were united, coherent and civilised, we wouldn't have created DiEM25, we'd have joined them. Now we are running against them, which is very painful to us," Varoufakis told Euractiv in February.

Asked to comment on the observation, Cue said the doors of the European Left are open.

"We have never excluded anyone from the debates of the European left, we are not always in agreement but we are trying to advance those issues that unite us," he said.

On Wednesday (15 May), Cue listed some of those issues during a live televised debate with the five other candidates for the next European Commission president.

He spoke of social injustice, of the need to fight climate change, that immigration was an opportunity, and of a Europe built on solidarity.

"Precarious work, climate change, tax avoidance...European leaders talk about the problems but they don't do anything about them. It's time to change course and only the Left can make that change," he told the audience.

Timmermans calls for left-wing coalition at debate

The centre-right's Manfred Weber got most of the heat at the EU Commission presidential candidates' final debate before the European elections, while Frans Timmermans reached out to a possible coalition partners - piling more pressure on Weber's EPP.

Analysis

As candidates debate, more names surface for EU top jobs

Candidates from EU political families clash at the closely-watched debate in the European Parliament - but the elections themselves, plus lukewarm support from heads of government, could upend previous calculations.

Feature

Spitzenkandidaten debate in Maastricht minus Weber

Five candidates discussed what they would do if they were the next president of the European Commission. But the big absentee of the evening was the candidate of the European People's Party.

Opinion

The democratic swindle of the Spitzenkandidat

The Spitzenkandidat system has become an instrument of the promotion of MEPs (often German), and was supposed to make Europe more democratic. Reality has revealed the opposite.

Opinion

Is there more than coffee for European Works Councils?

In 1994, the EU decided that, at least, the employee representatives of a multinational were to meet each other and the management from time to time. In these meetings, management had to inform and consult the employees about transnational issues.

Belgium votes in hybrid EU-national election

Belgians will be electing MPs to six parliaments, on top of the European Parliament, with Greens expected to fare well at both the federal and regional levels.

Latest News

  1. Final steps for EU's due diligence on supply chains law
  2. Top EU court rules Poland's court reforms 'infringe law'
  3. Sweden's far-right is most anti-Green Deal party in EU
  4. Strengthening recovery, resilience and democracy in regions, cities and villages
  5. Why Hungary cannot be permitted to hold EU presidency
  6. Subcontracting rules allow firms to bypass EU labour rights
  7. Asylum and SLAPP positions in focus This WEEK
  8. Spanish PM to delay EU presidency speech due to snap election

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us