MARCINELLE: EU PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO EUROPEAN DAY FOR VICTIMS OF WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament has approved the proposal—originating in Italy—to establish a European Day in memory of victims of workplace accidents, to be observed every year on 8 August in remembrance of the Marcinelle tragedy. The text was adopted with 45 votes in favour, none against and 6 abstentions. The proposal will now proceed to the plenary session in Strasbourg, a decisive political stage for its inclusion in the European Union’s civil calendar.

On 8 August 1956, 262 miners lost their lives in the Bois du Cazier coal mine. Among them were 136 Italians, 95 Belgians, 8 Poles, 6 Greeks, 5 Germans, 3 Algerians, 3 Hungarians, 2 French nationals, one Briton, one Dutchman, one Russian and one Ukrainian. Twelve nationalities, one single tragedy. Italian emigration paid the highest price, alongside workers who had come from every corner of the continent.

Marcinelle is emblematic of an era. From it emerged the foundations of European social law, built on shared rules, protections recognised beyond national borders, and a sensibility that learned to place the worker before the passport.

The day adopted by the Committee aims to strengthen a culture of prevention and workplace safety within public administrations, businesses and institutions, accompanied by targeted initiatives in schools and workplaces. Memory and prevention lie at the heart of the proposal. Remembrance must become training and a daily practice of protection.

A key factor in the positive outcome was the unified stance of the Italian delegations, which crossed party lines to support the text. This vote places Italy in its rightful position in safeguarding European memory and restores, within the institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg, the image of a country united on essential issues.

The process now continues towards the plenary vote. The ambition is to make 8 August of the seventieth anniversary the first official edition of the Day, and to establish Marcinelle as a permanent symbol in the European conscience.

STATEMENT BY MEP CHIARA GEMMA, RAPPORTEUR OF THE TEXT

“I express my great satisfaction with the favourable vote cast by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament on the proposal, which originated in Italy, to establish a European Day in memory of victims of workplace accidents, to be observed every year on 8 August in remembrance of the Marcinelle tragedy. This is an important step, long awaited by Italian communities in Belgium, the victims’ families and the associations that have kept that memory alive. Today, that request finally receives recognition within the European institutions.

On 8 August 1956, 262 miners lost their lives in the Bois du Cazier mine. Among them were 136 Italians, 95 Belgians, 8 Poles, 6 Greeks, 5 Germans, 3 Algerians, 3 Hungarians, 2 French nationals, one Briton, one Dutchman, one Russian and one Ukrainian. Twelve nationalities, one single tragedy. Italian emigration paid the highest price, alongside workers from every corner of the continent. Marcinelle belongs to Italian history and, even more fundamentally, to European history. From that suffering emerged the European social citizenship that we now take for granted.

A decisive factor in today’s vote was the strong, unified support of all Italian delegations in the European Parliament, which backed the proposal across political group lines. This result restores to Italy its rightful role in preserving the memory of European labour and reflects a spirit of national unity within the EU institutions.

Work now continues towards the plenary session in June and the subsequent steps, with the hope that, as early as next 8 August, marking the seventieth anniversary of the tragedy, Marcinelle will officially become one of the symbolic sites of the European conscience—the place where we remember where we come from and the price paid for the Europe of treaties to become a Europe of free women and men able to move and work.”

• Click here for the CNEL President’s article “Europe Was Born in Marcinelle” (Corriere della Sera, 7 August 2024) — Italian version only
• Click here for the CNEL President’s article “Marcinelle, Europe: the Day for Victims of Workplace Accidents is getting closer” (Corriere della Sera, 7 August 2025) — Italian version only

English translation generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of inconsistency, the original Italian text shall prevail.