Vaxholm War Skirmishes

EUobserver.com: "Just because Latvia is a new member state and one of its smallest states does not mean its concerns are less important"

A further skirmish in the ongoing Vaxholm war between the Swedish trade unions and a more open Europe occured in the European Parliament yesterday.

Internal market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was called to account by the Socialists for the remarks he made during an earlier visit to Sweden.

His remarks had caused the Swedish government to go ballistic - after all, the hardly pressed Social Democratic party is very much dependent on the financial resources of the big trade unions associated with them.

But McCreevy stood his ground.

Pointedly, he remarked that "just because Latvia is a new member state and one of its smallest states does not mean its concerns are less important", referring to Swedish government attempts to just bully the Latvians into submission.

It's important to understand what the war is really about.

The Latvian construction firm building the school had a collective agreement with all its workers. And the wages stipulated in this was above the minimum that is there on the corresponding Swedish market. Talk about "social dumping" has no relevance whatsoever.

The only thing that had been dumped was the Swedish trade union. And that's not necessarily the end of either Sweden or Europe.

The Vaxholm war continues. It's of great importance for the future of Europe.