Trade union leaders from across Europe have vowed to redouble their efforts to defeat the far-right after a visit to Utøya island where 69 members of the Norwegian Labour Youth Organisation were killed in a far-right terror attack.

The Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) today adopted a statement pledging to fight the far-right “with the same conviction that brought young people to that island in 2011: the belief that a fairer, more equal, more democratic society is possible.”

The meeting in Oslo, hosted Norway’s three main trade union confederations, LO, Unio and YS, comes after a visit on Monday to Utøya, where union leaders took part in a wreath-laying ceremony and commemoration of those who lost their lives.

“We have come to Utøya to remember,” says the statement. “But memory carries a responsibility. At a time when democracy is under pressure and hatred is gaining ground, remembering must lead to action. Now is the time to stand up for the values we believe in.”

“The far-right hatred behind the terrorist attack and murders that day has not gone away. It has spread. Across Europe and beyond, far-right movements are gaining ground. They normalise racism. They normalise misogyny and homophobia.

“They scapegoat migrants and minorities. They seek to divide us because division makes people easier to manipulate, control, and defeat. But working people are better than that. We do not turn against one another.

“We stand together, organised in our trade unions and united with progressive forces, fighting for a better alternative. We organise. We build collective power instead of leaving people to stand alone.

“We bring people together instead of tearing them apart. That is why those who thrive on fear and division see us as a threat, and that is why we will always stand at the forefront of the fight against the far-right.”