The fears of"souls without direction"(Peter Glotz) are clearly to be found not only among workers in general, but among considerable sections of the union apparatus and their offi­cials. Indeed, hidden behind the radical­sounding slogan"Europe of the big corpora­tions" one can find a structure of fear similar to the xenophobic slogans of many workers. For this reason, the internationalization of na­tional trade union organizations deserves spe­cial attention. Beyond expanded competence in handling international problems, this is principally a matter of adopting measures which promote common experience, thereby replacing left conservatism with left modern­ity. There will be security against a shift to the right by an anxious workforce when the trade unions strengthen the enlightened, anti-auth­oritarian traditions of Europe and themselves take up the task of shaping the European so­cial dimension. One could claim with complete justification that European intergration might not be the one and only solution, but without it we are doomed to failure. An entire century lies be­tween the European Union in Western Europe and the warring, nationalistic relapses now oc­curing from Yugoslavia to the Caspian Sea. A modern trade union equipped with an inter­nationalized apparatus and supported by an enlightened policy-making staff and lay offi­cials must enhance the progressiveness of European integration through the enrichment of the welfare state under the rule of law. The promotion of European solidarity must be raised to the level of a general perspective that guides trade union action. This is the al­ternative to the unions' reluctance to abandon narrow national attitudes. The challenges and opportunities involved in a renewal of the trade unions in tomorrow's Europe find ex­pression in a continental model of co-determi­nation and collective bargaining autonomy. Acting in a timely manner means carrying out a policy of future-orientated opportunity man­agement, not one of reactive crisis manage­ment after the fact. The one who today can conceive a policy of opportunity management will become tomorrow's acknowledged social force and speaker for workers. The oppor­tunity for trade union renewal will be realized through the Europeanization of their policies and activities. The frequently heard thesis(especially in Germany) that a strong national anchoring of the trade unions is the best condition for the prevention of anti-trade union developments in Europe is opposed by the view of the author who holds that the europeanisation of trade union politics assures the best protec­tion for the workers. The Florence-Amsterdam researchers have expressed it well:"Or­ganized Labour will have to be international, or it will not be." The prerequisites for this are modem structures and ways of thinking as well as a European trade union entity which functions not as a gigantic organizational unit in the sense of"one big union", but rather as an interactive network which binds together diverse forms of trade union organization. When this happens it will also be possible for the trade unions to provide the plans and con­crete elements for a social Europe that can grow into structures which will not fall prey to nationalism and totalitarianism. 14