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A European trade union leader warned that the austerity programs carried out by many EU countries may send the bloc "back to the 1930s."

"This is extremely dangerous. This is 1931, we're heading back to the 1930s, with the Great Depression and we ended up with militarist dictatorship," John Monks, head of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), told local media in an interview published on Monday.

"I'm not saying we're there yet, but it's potentially very serious, not just economically, but politically as well," Monks said.

He said that he had a discussion last Friday with President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso about the trade unions' concerns and found Barroso had the same worry but for quite a different reason.

He said Barroso believed that if the countries, such as Greece, Spain and Portugal, do not carry out these austerity packages, they "could virtually disappear in the way that we know them as democracies."

To avoid similar scenario of the Greek debt crisis, a number of EU countries, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, have announced draconian austerity measures to cut their deficit. Even Germany, which is in a much better position, also decided to implement consolidation measures worth 80 billion euros (about 96 billion U.S. dollars).

The wave of austerity packages has met with strong opposition from trade unions across the EU.

The ETUC declared earlier this month a plan to organize a "European Day of Action" on Sept. 29 in Brussels and some other cities to protest against spending-cuts announced by European governments.

Xinhua/ Editor: Tang Danlu