The Executive Board of the Party of the European Left, gathered in Porto, deepening in its Anti-austerity Policy
The Executive Board of the Party of the European Left (EL) is gathered this weekend in the Portuguese city of Porto in order to continue to develop progressive solutions to overcome the crisis in which Europe is immersed. And the best way to do it, according to its President Pierre Laurent, is by “working for a new frame of action and for the convergence in Europe”, an initiative that will be concretised in an annual European political forum which aims to bring together all the progressive political and social forces. The proposal on which the EL will continue to work will be presented at its 5th Congress, to be held at end of year in Berlin, and that would be based on the philosophy of the Forum of Sao Paolo adapted to the European reality.
The denunciation of European policy on the refugee crisis, and the agreement signed between the European Union and Turkey,turning its back on human rights and the rights of the refugees, it was the first point that Pierre Laurent tackled in its analysis of the actuality, remembering more than four hundred refugees died in the last big shipwreck of this week. This European policy, he explained, "only modifies the path of exile meanwhile the drama continues". The EL cannot accept this situation, he stressed, and called to continue to denounce this refugee policy at the European level as well as from each country.
The TTIP was the second matter addressed in his report. This Monday they will resume the negotiations which are scheduled to conclude with the final approval of the transatlantic free trade agreement between the EU and the United States before the year finishes. “This is a fundamental battle, he remarked, since we are in a crucial moment. There is a hard core of resistance in many countries," argued, “the next few months are going to be essential and therefore the EL has to pronounce to say no to the negotiations and continue pushing mobilisations against the TTIP".
Another of the issues of the intervention of the EL President was the appeal to strengthen the work of the alliance against austerity that has been going on for the last months. One of the points of this campaign is the rejection of the financial pressure on the debt. To develop the subject, the Party of the European Left will organise a seminar on debt, that will be held in June in Rome, "which will be the first step of a cycle of more ambitious work to prepare a large European Summit on debt, next year, with the aim of overcoming the debate and "achieve a common position of the European Left which marks the exit to the crisis for the peoples of Europe".
The Bloco, the host party of this Executive Board, explained, by the EL Vice President Marisa Matias, the new political cycle Portugal is living in after the last general elections and which is possible because of the confluence of the left parties, which were able to add to their results to avoid the right-wing to go back to the government. Marisa spoke about how this confluence to get a progressive government was based on the foundations of the struggle against the austerity and against the impoverishment. It materialised in a few fundamental axes such as the budgets, the wages, the pensions and the elimination of the cuttings. Marisa Matías, who was the candidate of the Bloco to the presidency of the Republic in the elections hold at the beginning of this year, admitted that the negotiations and the approval of the budgets was difficult but “we have achieved it and now in Portugal we breathe in a different way”.
Pierre Laurent also spoke about the need to support the confluences. Not only in Portugal but also in Spain. And he did it in a clear manner: "From the EL we have to support to Izquierda Unida in the confluence with Podemos and with the Tides (mareas), since the result of it is important for the whole Europe”.
He also advocated support for the progressive positions of British Left Unity in its work to change Europe from within regarding the referendum on the exit or not of Great Britain of European Union, the Brexit.
Pierre Laurent outlined the "dangerous political situation" in which France is living in, with the strength of the Front National, and the fear that the presidential elections next year will mean a return of the strong right to power. On the positive side, he spoke of the big social mobilisation against the Labor Law of the Government of Hollande, the success of the French "Nuit Debout"  taking the squares and the voice and the strike which will take place in the coming weeks. For these mobilisations he also asked the support of everybody "as it will be very important".
In his presentation for the European panorama he called to pay attention to the elections of May 20 in Cyprus. And mentioning other continents he warned about “the very strong counter-offensive that is being carried out against the left forces of Latin America, and not only in Brazil but in other countries as well”. And he concluded with the need to relaunch the solidarity with the Palestinian, Kurdish and the Saharawi peoples, in addition to continue working for a negotiated way to achieve peace in Syria in facing the risk of a new escalation of the war.