BALANCING ACT - Raising living standards in emerging economies

Instead of lowering the rights of workers in Europe, we need to raise the living standards in emerging economies, writes former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

I BELIEVE the construction of the European Union is not just a European legacy, but rather part of the world’s heritage.

It is a political institution that inspires countries to work together and increase co-operation and integration in their regions. It was the inspiration for South America, with Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations, and for Africa, with the African Union and the regional economic communities that are now engaged in developing the continent. It is an amazing achievement that countries that have been at war for centuries, begun to work together peacefully to resolve their differences through dialogue and politics and not by force of arms.