Initially launched in solidarity with employees at the Audi plant in Brussels, Monday's rally in the Belgian capital became the call for measures to preserve Europe's industrial sector.
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00:00They came from Germany, Italy and Hungary to support the Belgian trade unions.
00:07More than 5,000 people, according to the police, gathered in the Belgian capital on Monday
00:12to support the employees of Audi factory in Brussels and their subcontractors,
00:17but also to call for an ambitious European industrial policy to defend jobs on the continent.
00:23Ok, so also in the car industry.
00:30We ask the European Union to implement industrial policies
00:35that give answers to the workers who look to the future,
00:40because we think that nobody can do it alone, compared to the challenges we face.
00:47In July, Audi announced a restructuring of its Brussels plant, provoking anger among employees.
00:54Parent company Volkswagen has also announced closure in Germany.
01:00Passenger car sales in Europe are expected to fall by 4.6% compared with the previous year,
01:07prompting some Belgian politicians in the procession to say that the answer can only be European.
01:17We need a more global strategy.
01:21For example, energy costs are much too high.
01:25We need an industrial plan for the future of our jobs.
01:30Electrification, for example, in cars, requires a lot of investment.
01:35But now the big brands don't make enough investments,
01:40they save money on the workers.
01:46Many of the demonstrators are questioning the re-industrialization of Europe,
01:50which has been announced for several years.
01:53Who are you talking about?
01:55In general, we have to expect that Europe, and we are already witnessing this,
02:00is losing its primordial place in the world.
02:04We are being eaten, literally,
02:08and I don't know if we are able to do anything about it.
02:13This event is taking place when the Union's new institutional teams are being put in place,
02:17and the European trade union world is trying to make its voice heard at the start of its mandate.
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