Thousands of marchers converged Thursday on the venue for a summit of European Union leaders, protesting against austerity measures being introduced throughout the bloc. The demonstrators responded to union calls to challenge leaders' moves to commit governments to a new 'Euro Pact' to be announced that seeks to moderate wages in a bid to make Europe's economy more competitive against global rivals.
"The European Commission's annual examination of growth as well as the competitiveness pact launched by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will drag wages and social rights down to dangerous levels," Belgium's CES union said in a statement.
Even though the original Franco-German proposals were watered down to an extent once transformed into a 'Euro Pact' set for adoption by leaders during the summit, Belgian unions fear their system of index-linked wage rises is under threat.