Ciao tutti!
I am very happy to be with you today – a week after our great victory over Sarcoxie – and to take part in this first great mobilization against the Monti government. I am happy to see you so numerous ready to wage this struggle.
In France, to those who resist we say: courage, we are with you, we also want to release Monti!
This is a message of hope, that I bring to you on behalf of the KPF, the Left Front, and the party of the European Left, as a strong movement is rising for change all over Europe.
There have been large general strikes in Spain, in Belgium, in Portugal, and in Greece, the social movements gain importance everywhere and there were electoral setbacks for all parties acting against the people.
Last Sunday, the French and the Greek have stroke a spectacular blow against the barbarian capitalism we suffer from. The popular response was massive and one with great clarity. From now on it is clear that austerity is hated by the people. This is a major political factor.
In France, we defeated Sarcoxie! This is a great relief for France. It is the end to the infernal pair of Sarcoxie-Merkel. At last!
In Greece, the people have given the pro-austerity parties a slap in the face. Their political system – based on arrangements between liberals and deniers of democracy – has exploded.
The left forces, defending a line of suspending austerity, of European solidarity and of proposals to take the money from the banks and put public money into the service of human development have made this event possible.
In France – with the excellent results of the Left Front in the first round of presidential elections and in Greece – with SYRIZA becoming second strongest political force of the country and the first of the left, the way has been cleared. And there will be others, maybe in Ireland with its referendum on May 31, and again with the parliamentary elections in France. Yes, the debate on the overhaul of the EU is again gaining momentum.
Thanks to us and thanks to our struggles, this debate can find a left way out. Otherwise, there would be the menace of the extreme right to occupy this space. We are both a bulwark against austerity and a bulwark against the extreme right. We are the future of democracy and the left hope!
Here, Mario Monti – the non-elected, the technocrat, the “major-domo of Angela Merkel”, as my friend Paolo Ferrero has said, the “Super Mario” made of plastic - has no legitimation whatsoever to make decisions on behalf of the Italian people. There must be elections! The people must retain their freedom of choice, their sovereignty, otherwise this is no republic!
La Federazione della sinistra is a veritable opposition against austerity in Italy. It is not the Lega Nord or the clown Beppe Grillo who offer an alternative. The FDS does not have five stars, it is one, the single red star of the labour movement. It fights alongside the workers and their unions, alongside the social movements, it gathers the different forces around the solutions to emerge from the crisis.
Here, the hope is you!
The time has come to reinforce our solidarity, our convergences. The elections in France and Greece got all liberals into trouble.
It terrified them and the markets applied additional pressure. A gap has been opened but they will do everything to close it as soon as possible.
Francois Hollande has promised the renegotiation of the fiscal pact. But in the end he only spoke of growth and austerity. The risk is great that this renegotiation will not keep the promises made, if the people do not interfere. He already speaks of adding some minor provisions without changing the pact.
An extraordinary summit will take place on May 23 and the great manoeuvre will commence. Our responsibility is huge.
What we demand – in France with the Left front, in Europe with the EL – is a reconsidering of the pact, an end to the attacks on workers’ rights, and to the cuts in the budget for public services and social welfare. What we want is a reconsidering of the role of the European Central bank, which presents more than 1000 billion to the banks and continually refuses to help states in dire finances.
We, the left European forces, want the success of the left and we are the only one who can warrant this.
Let’s work together on the creation of a European front against austerity and for a social, democratic, ecologic and solidary Europe.
Let’s work together for the success of a new process initiated by the numerous forces of the left, the trade unions, the social movements and associations for the organisation of an alternative European summit.
At the end of June the EL will launch – with all forces that want to join in – a European Citizens Initiative for the creation of a public European bank for social, ecologic, and solidary development. Thus, we want to open the debate with the citizens, all over Europe, to reorientate the finance towards the public services, labour, economical and social development, and an ecological transition.
Together we can do great things! The French communist party, the Left Front are always with you, you can count on us!
Peoples of Europe, unite!