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Charles Nolda
BBC World started my day with no fewer than three news stories before 8am that were of direct relevance to our discussions here in Turin.
First of all, while I was in the shower, I thought I heard a familiar voice. When I emerged I discovered it was Jorgen Ronnest of BusinessEurope commenting on today's EU social agenda package. I hope he doesn't mind the fact that I was listening to him still without my clothes on! He didn't seem to be very pleased with the Commission's proposals on the European Works Councils.
By the time I had got dressed, the story was about transport drivers in India on strike over the rising cost of fuel, a familiar story now world-wide. I was able to tell Mr Singh, one of the Indian representatives in our discussions, about this later. It seemed to be news to him.
Finally, and by this time I was just about ready to go downstairs for breakfast, there was a fascinating piece about the merger of one of the largest British trade unions (Unite) and a US union. Tony Woodley, the general secretary of Unite, was arguing that the merger made very good sense as the US and the UK are lightly regulated labour markets and so combining forces in this way would strengthen the union voice in diffcult operating environments.
So even before breakfast there was the perfect illustration of the global context for European social dialogue.
That was a point that was emphasised in this afternoon's wide-ranging discussions. As one of the afternoon panellists I enjoyed the experience especially as there seemed to be a good interaction with the audience.
The presentations of the Wilthagen, Cazes and Rodrigues papers were all first class and the combination of circulating the papers in advance and following up with powerpoint presentations on the day seemed to work well.
I found this morning' SWOT analysis of the flexicurity components, less effective than yesterday's globalisation exercise. I enjoy working group exercises but I think this one may have been a little artificial. However it was worth doing and it certainly helped my understanding.
Unfortunately I have to leave before tonight's dinner (which will no doubt be wonderful) and tomorrow's discussions.
I have found the discussions more stimulating than I had expected. I have the typical anglo-saxon aversion to abstract discussion and there is a risk that flexicurlty becomes a kind of theoretical framework and loses sight of the need to articulate precise and specific actions to be taken to improve the situation.
We are still better at analysing situations than formulating action plans. But Ton Wilthagen has shown how a toolkit can be assembled to help that process so it is up to us to use that toolkit or to be inspired by it to construct our own.
Thank you all, goodbye and may your dialogue be constructive and collaborative at all times!
Charles Nolda
