The Summer University of the Party of the European Left (EL) opened its doors, for the 8th time, this year in the Portuguese city of Porto.

In the opening session Renato Soeiro, one of the responsible for the Summer University and member of the Executive Board of EL, welcomed the participants. Marisa Matias, member of the European Parliament (MEP) of Bloco de Esquerda, and vice president of the European Left, recalled that it was also in Portugal where the party held its first Summer University, in 2006, “but in a very different Portugal as the one we have today”.

On that occasion, Marisa recalled, it was Miguel Portas, who performed the opening of the Summer University and he did it by promoting the idea of a huge left-wing block, as the one we have today. Since then,Bloco as well as the Party of the European Left have grown, but at the same time unemployment, poverty and inequality have also increased.

Matías put this year’s Summer University in the context of a turbulent week in which the government of the country falls apart: first it was the Minister of Finance to resign, “being more interested in Berlin than in Portugal”, later on the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This government that does not care about the conditions of the citizens faces a growing mobilisation of the people. This was shown with a great strike of teachers that lasted a whole week and the general strike on June 27.

The Portuguese Eurodeputy reported that upcoming Saturday (6 July), once again, the people will go to the streets following the call made by the CGTP trade union and social movements as “Que se lixe a Troika” and "Inflexible Precarious" demanding for the resignation of a “government that is incompetent and lost its legitimacy”. She invited all the participants of this EL University to join the Portuguese people in this struggle against the austerity policy dictated by the Troika and imposed in Portugal by the government in power. The immediate answer was an avalanche of applauses to the proposal.

From Greece, representing Transform! Europe, Elena Papadopoulou, reminded the audience of the similarities between what is done to Greece and Portugal: "we have seen how the propaganda of the system works, accusing us of being lazy and irresponsible and how this propaganda has been intensified at the time the resistance grew". She explained that the attack is built upon on two pillars: blame the people of the crisis making them responsible for it, and convince them of the necessity of obedience. Papadopoulou stressed that in this situation we need to defend democracy and intensify our common struggle.

Regarding this, she underlined the enormous importance of the work done in the Alter Summit, taking place in June in Athens, admitting that it is not easy,”but we must make an effort because this is the path that we must keep moving forward”.

Maite Mola, another vice president of the EL, emphasized the need to articulate the rebellion “as otherwise it will go nowhere”, and added  "they will try, by all possible ways, that the left does not win. We are not going to cope with that. We have to convince people that we have an alternative. We have not only to be in government, but also occupy the streets”. She denounced "how the Troika policy and national governments are attacking people in such a brutal way", and welcomed that after the Alter Summit “our relationship with the social movements and trade unions has improved greatly”, taking as example the meeting between the Party of the European Left and the trade unions held in Athens. Mola also reported on the encounter which took place at the end of May in Spain between the leadership of the European Left, represented by its president Pierre Laurent, the vice-president and leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras and vice-president Maite Mola, on one hand, and the leaders of two big Spanish trade unions CC.OO and UGT. “It is complex but we have to construct the way, and do it fast”.

The opening session was followed by a day of workshops featuring among other issues discussions of trade unions and employment policies, the evolution of left-wing parties in Europe, the prospect of unity after the Alter Summit; the role of Europe in the current conflicts; and an exchange of feminist experiences on the issue of parity.

The day ended with a political dinner dedicated to Latin America and Europe, involving, among others, the Secretary of the Forum of Sao Paulo, Valter Pomar, as a speaker.

The Summer University will continue until 6 July.