Marisa Matias: "We are here to tell the Greek people that they have the support of workers across Europe"

It is the first time that Greece celebrates its May 1^st with the left in the government, in difficult moments in which the Hellene country, and with it the whole of Europe, are waging a battle between the ongoing project of the Europe of the peoples, headed by the government of Syriza -with the full support of the Party of the European Left-, versus the Europe of the markets responsible for the disastrous policy of austerity that drowns out the peoples of Europe.

The Party of the European Left knows that the Greek Government of Syriza can be the engine of change in Europe. That´s why a EL delegation, headed by its Vice Presidents Marisa Matias, the Portuguese MEP of the Bloco de Esquerra, and Margarita Mileva, leader of the Bulgarian Left, took part in the demonstration of the May 1^st in Athens.

“We are here in solidarity with all the workers, not only the Greeks but all the workers of Europe and of the world”, said Marisa Matias during the rally. "It is very important to be here today because there is a blackmail and a huge offensive of the European institutions against the Greek government and the measures that they want to put in practice to safeguard the rights of workers. We need to tell them that they have the support of the peoples across Europe".

The delegation of the Party of the European Left was composed of different members of its Executive Board as the French Anne Sabourin, (French Communist Party), the Italian Fabio Amato (Rifondazione Comunista), Hungarian Attila Vajnai (Workers' Party 2006), and the Greeks Natassa Theodorakoupoulou (member of the Central Board of Syriza) and Yiannis Bournous, among others.

Some members of Syriza government, such as Yanis Varoufakis Finance Minister, and the ministers of labour and energy, took the street the hot May 1st. They also did members of Transform!, as Walter Baier and Elisabeth Gauthier, of L'Altra Europe with Tsipras and representatives of the world of the work and of the social movements of some parties of the EL, as Paco Figueroa, and Felicitas Velázquez of the Communist Party of Spain and Marga Ferré of Izquierda Unida.