Natassa Theodorakopoulou: “If we do not work together we will never change the balance of power at European level"

Greek flags waved at the  Fête de l´humanité central meeting, as they did in the stand of the PCF federation, as well as in those of the Communist parties from different corners of the world and in the social movements' stands. The topic of Greece was at the  core of the discussion in dozens debates during the three days of la Fête.

Natassa Theodorakopoulou, on behalf of Syriza, explained, during the last months in Greece, the difficulties with which the government had to cope in the negotiations, the decision of the government to sign the memorandum, the inability to apply the program  they were elected for and the need to ask people for their opinion “so Greeks would decide if we could continue or not”.

She explained that the experience has shown that it is not enough to change the balance of power in each country, "it is necessary to change it all over Europe in order to change policies". She insisted that "it is not only a question of solidarity, but of changes in our countries". The most important moment for them was when in the surveys, 53 % of the French people were in favor of a solution to keep the Greece inside the European Union, because they realized that they also could lose everything in their country.

For this reason, argued the leader of Syriza and member of the direction of the EL, "everyone's priority is continue fighting to change the balance of power at social and political level. She added that now there are already groups of Socialists and Greens stating that the continuation  of the austerity policies will be means a catastrophe for the whole Europe. "If we do not work together we will never change the balance of power at the European level" and that should be done with positive proposals.

"We must support Greece, not for solidarity but for ourselves. We have lost a battle but the war continues and it is going to be brutal, as capitalism is, for everyone, said Anne  Sabourin, member of the French Communist Party and of the EL Executive Board. Greece has shown that there is an alternative to the right output and Europe has not appreciated it"and here the question is not a national issue but a struggle of classes and a powerful economic group". The roadmap indicated by Sabourin is "Transform Europe to put an end to the austerity" because it is impossible to do so with the current guidelines.

Inevitably the signature of the memorandum in Greece has disappointed the left, because we all known that the victory of the Greek left was the hope of the European left. The vice president of the EL, Maite Mola was speaking about Izquierda Unida in Spain and its vote against the memorandum and on the necessity to consider to live whether in a European project or in several different countries. But she also appealed to the self-criticism: "In the EL we share a European project, but we must recognize that sometimes we are also wrong and do things wrong, not only Syriza but us too in trusting in a probable negotiation with a relentless enemy as the Troika which has ignored the situation of people and has tightened until the end to show what might then happen to all of us. “They have tried to put an end to a left-wing Government. That's why it is necessary to construct the unity of the left in the widest term”.

The Italian Fabio Amato, of the Communist Refoundation Party, also called to the self-criticism: "Not only Germany is responsible. All the governments are. Italy, France, Spain … are accomplices from what it is going on. Also he was sorry that the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC)  has not been fighting in the street next to the Greek people, because it is not a question of being solider with the Greek people, but of fighting with them”.

Amato insisted on the need to break with the “big coalition” that not only governs in Germany, but in other countries like Italy, where the social democrat Renzi could not have changed the Constitution without Berlusconi's support. He said that Maastricht and the Treaty of Lisbon have a political base that is the complicity and connivance of the social democracy and the forces of the right. And he concluded with a call for action: "If the Greek people could defeat the Grand Coalition in Greece, now it´s up to us to combat against this great coalition in each of our countries."

Heinz Bierbaum, responsible of  Die Linke international relations and member of the Executive of the EL sentenced: "the agreement with Greece was not an agreement but a blackmail". He added that it is not possible to put an end to the austerity or neoliberal policies by the way of negotiation, but by changing the balance of power. He also exposed the basis for the democratization of Europe, starting with the democratization of the economy.