The Euromarchas finished with the compromise to return to Brussels next year

On Saturday October 17^th a demonstration coming from the European Parliament, marched throughout the streets of Brussels, hence closing three days of mobilizations in the Belgian capital, where citizens from more than 10 European countries and over 300 organizations gathered to demand a radical shift in the policies of the European Union.  

With the motto "Against the austerity, the TTIP and poverty, build another Europe', the event was the culmination of the Euromarchas that started its journey the past September 31^st with four columns that came out from Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and the Nordic countries and passed through France and Germany, among others.

The Party of the European Left (EL) supported from the beginning this initiative of diverse social movements and political and trade union organizations in order to do a join action of the peoples of Europe against the politics of the EU austerity and of the free trade agreements TTIP and CETA. That is why, besides taking part in all the workshops, the EL joined the demonstration with its flags and with its banner against the TTIP claiming “for the democracy, the public and social services”, with the presence of members, leaders, and MEPs of its member parties.

From the night of the of October 15^th , till noon of the 17^th  the Euromarchas organized different workshops in which participants discussed about the debt, migration and its capitalistic use for lower wages and divide society rising xenophobia and the influence of the far right. There was also talks on climate change and how the TTIP affects labour and social rights and democracy itself because of the ISDS and the increasing power of the transnational corporations.

In the workshops it was analysed the economic, politic and social situation, alternatives were given and there were also launched initiatives, as the proposal released by the Greek Nasos Iliaopoulos, responsible of employment of Syriza in the secretariat, to initiate a European campaign in defence of the workers collective bargaining "not from the solidarity but from the common struggle, because it affects all of us”.

Facing the lack of democracy, they talked about the alternatives,  "they are not in the closed rooms where agreements are signed but in ourselves, in the open society, social movements, trade unions and political parties that claim, demand, struggle for democracy and the rights of the peoples". In fact, the aim of these European initiatives is "the creation of new forms of coordination and joined struggle, in order to make Europe not be directed by a oligarchical minority, but by the majority" according to what is was pointed in the conclusions, which identified neo-liberalism as the enemy to fight against.

On Friday night a political meeting was celebrated in the Free University of Brussels, in which with the name  After The “coup d'état of July 13”: what alternatives to the austerity?, different questions were tackled, from the meaning of the words democracy and sovereignty in the EU and in the Euro area, to how social movements affront austerity and what can be done from the politics to exit the austerity.

Susan George (Attac), Ronald Janssens of the European Institute of unions, and representatives of Blockupy, of the European Milk Board, the International Coalition of Sans Papiers, the Euromarchas, Podemos and the co-President of the Greens were some of those who took the floor.

The Spanish MEP for Izquierda Unida, Marina Albiol, was one of the guests to speak about the political action to exit the austerity. She started by defining the austerity as the massive transference of the public resources, especially social, to put them to the service of the private interests. She said there are policies inherent to capitalism, which need to create new areas of business, and does so with the privatization of services and the TTIP, which creates new rules that allow them to reverse the social advances and remove obstacles to continue privatizing public services and exploiting the planet. She argued that in Europe there are 123 million living in poverty not because of a shortage problem but because of an unfair distribution of resources. Albiol explained that claiming a change within capitalism does not work, that the social democracy already tried it and failed. "The alternative is a socialist economy, put the sectors and the strategic resources in our hands, under democratic and social control, to ensure food, shelter and work". She added that the alternative to this model of EU cannot be a return to close ourselves in our borders, but that "the crisis gives us the opportunity and the challenge of building a European constituent process".

Saturday was also a day of mobilizations against the TTIP throughout Europe. In Germany the date has been brought forward one week and the last October 10^th  the call managed to gather in Berlin over 250,000 demonstrators rejecting the Free Trade Agreement, a campaign in which the EL is continuing to be involved.