While the global crisis revealed the deadlock of the neoliberal policies, and while peoples – everywhere in Europe – demonstrate their clear rejection of the austerity policies, the European leaders are about to sign a pact with the financial markets.

Since 2010, the European Union tries to convince citizens that the austerity is imposed because certain members didn’t know how to control their debt and there is no alternative to combat the crisis. However, the austerity was a “common” decision of some members: the European Commission's annual growth the competitiveness pact was proposed by Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy presenting proposals that put in risk salaries and social rights of workers in general.

Under the leadership of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, a step further is being taken in the social regression policies, without consulting neither peoples nor national and European parliamentarians.

Most Member States went under cruel and insensitive austerity policies, trough severe cuts in public spending namely wages and pensions, incessant destruction of social protection and the welfare state built during the last 40 years, the increase of privatisation of public services, raising taxes, the retirement age and workers contributions to social security. Portuguese Prime Minister has just presented the resignation in the sequence of the rejection by the Parliament of the 4th Stability and Growth Pact imposed in twelve months.

The “Pact for the euro” is a widespread and violent attack against European peoples’ social and political rights. It aims to organize the total control of financial markets on peoples and states and besides this it only mentions a plan for 2013. European citizens are suffering the cuts in their salaries and pensions since months and have the right to ask, what will happen here and now. We demand a referendum in all European countries and we call European people to reject this unprecedented anti-democratic, neoliberal offensive.

The ELP is firmly convinced that there is an alternative that can be reached trough different means, introducing financial transaction taxes to crack down on speculation and create a social development and solidarity fund that can provide a real and fair European recovery plan, based on the economic, social and ecologic policies. We also urge a European solution to the European problem of public debts: the immediate re-negotiation of public debts in a European scale, including the cancellation of part of the problem.

The ELP expresses its solidarity with movements that grow everywhere in Europe, and supports the mobilisation of the Trade Unions on Thursday, 24 March in Brussels, and on London, Spain, France and Germany between 22 and 26 March, as well as the euro-demonstration scheduled for the 9 ^th of April, in Budapest.

ELP president and vice-presidents call European citizens to form resistance fronts against the Pact for the euro, and to present their exit alternatives from the crisis and for the formation of another Europe.

The EL Presidency