28 Aug 2009: Trade Unions and lobbying in the European Union: past and present

Venue: Monash University (Caulfield Campus)

Why are interest groups, such as trade unions, interested in lobbying the European Commission of the European Union?  How do they lobby, for what purpose and what impact did such lobbying have on the development of the EC/EU?

This lecture to be presented by Dr Hitoshi Suzuki reviews the history of how and why trade unions have supported European integration since the 1950 Schuman Plan.

The union leaders became regular participants in inter-governmental negotiations and became members of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), therefore being able to lobby the ECSC from both outside and within. They successfully influenced the policies of the ECSC, thereby enabling the post-war reconstruction of the European economy and building public opinion support for European integration. This is a legacy which has continued up to the present time, although only to some extent. Difficulties in supporting integration surfaced later on, such as the unions’ relative decline, disagreements among them on the kind of integration they wanted to pursue and difficulties in interacting with other interest groups such as business groups, peace movements and consumer groups.

Date: Friday, 28 August 2009

Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Venue: Room HB39, Building H, Monash University(Caulfield Campus), 900 Dandenong Road Caulfield East.

Hitoshi Suzuki  lectures in international relations and European integration inthe Faculty of International Studies and Regional Development, University of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. His research interests are in the history of European integration and how it was influenced by pressure groups, trade unions and public opinion. He received his PhD (History and Civilization) from the European University Institute in in December 2007 and is one of the first Japanese students who received a PhD from the EUI. He has written extensively about the Schuman Plan, the European Coal and Steel Community, Euratom and trade unions. He currently researches how the European Commission took the initiative in addressing the trade wars against Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.

Dr Suzuki is currently an International Visiting Fellow at the Monash European and EU Centre in Melbourne Australia and is also Associate Researcher of the Keio Jean Monnet Centre for EU Studies in Tokyo Japan.

All welcome – No charge

RSVP by Wednesday, 26 August to Patricia Arnold, ph 03 9903 4638, email

Posted on 24 August 2009