Last month, the European Parliament hosted a landmark, Beyond Growth conference. As European trade-union federations representing public-service workers across Europe, we believe that this concept, of going ‘beyond growth’ towards wellbeing within planetary boundaries, may hold the key to a different Europe.

Many who spoke during the conference stressed the role of ‘universal basic services’ at the core of an alternative—moving away from the commercialisation of public services and commodification of all aspects of life, reclaiming democratic public control and imagining an  economy orientated towards human rights that works for people and the planet. With the European Parliament elections a year ahead, the political parties are well-advised to take up these concepts and demand that the next European Commission’s work programmes be based on this perspective.

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