The crisis was not caused by this or that country being “too extravagant” or being under quoted by the private credit rating agencies; even though we should stress the responsibility of those governments that have accepted to hand their economies over the big financial interests.  

Fundamentally, it is the crisis of the financialised capitalism that is now dominant worldwide. Europe is particularly traumatized by this. The very nature of the way Europe was built, under the auspices of the neo-liberal dogma of “free and undistorted competition”, mentioned in 1992 in the Maastricht treaty and reinforced in the Lisbon treaty in 2007, has shown itself up as a powerful factor in making the crisis. Instead of the promised harmonisation, divisions have been accentuated; and some regions within the E.U. have been caught up in real downward spiral.

The “austerity cure” cannot, in any way, provide a solution to the problems raised since it gives even greater power to the financial market’s processes, which lie at the heart of the crisis. On the contrary, it can only lead to recession and make worse the situation of employment, of households and of States.

A number of governments in Europe are increasingly adopting authoritarian and worrying methods to impose their choices against the rising resistance. This means, keeping democracy under supervision.

We can get over the crisis of public revenues

We have been told that the coffers are empty in an attempt to justify the severity and the regression. This logic is senseless. The crisis — the real one — in public finances is, above all, a crisis of public revenues. The E.U. and its governments must break with the logic of “debts for the governments, belt tightening for the people and profits for the financiers”. It is the opposite logic that that makes solutions possible.
New means must be mobilised, and it requires a radically different distribution of wealth. Public and social coffers will fill up when unemployment recedes, when wages are higher and when the incomes of shareholders and financiers are made to contribute, when taxation is based on social justice.

Economic policy must be planned on the basis of the public interest, not of “the market”. What is needed is not a revival of finance but of public services that take in consideration the population needs, the useful private and public activity and the quality of employment by driving back job insecurity that blights workers and societies alike. The ECB must be able to lend to governments low interest rates so that they can be freed from the pressure of the financial markets.
Taxing financial transactions is a step in the right direction. However, in addition, the financial and banking sectors must be transformed in a way their activity can favour human and ecological development. The use of public money must be based on democratic criteria and must generate public and civic power, through transparent processes of public control.

We want a Europe built by democracy and solidarity

We are at a turning point of the class conflict in Europe. Capital is not changing its face — all its representatives are forming a front against the peoples. The violence of the used methods shows how determined they are. The governments subscribe to the same logic and no longer listen to their peoples, reducing their rights on both social and democratic levels.
To face up to them, we need to build a social and political dynamic, a front of European solidarity that puts forward alternatives that favour and respond to social and ecological needs. Reinforcing solidarity in this confrontation, means waging a struggle in every town, in every company and institution in every country because every time this logic is forced to move back, it is useful to everyone.
The battle is conducted as “all together in Europe against the same sense of austerity” that is wide spreading because our joint action at European level encourages and strengthens the multitude of resistance and the search for an alternative strategy in Europe.
The European Left Party wishes to be of use in creating this front. We need to build a social model and a genuine democracy in Europe to advance together towards a new kind of development.


29 September: a fresh starting point for European mobilisation

29 septembre 2010 : un nouveau point de départ de la mobilisation européenne
29 września: nowy punkt startowy europejskiej mobilizacji
El 29 de septiembre, punto de partida activo para una movilización europea
29. září: s novou silou do evropské mobilizace!
29 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010: Μια νέα αφετηρία για ευρωπαϊκές κινητοποιήσεις
NEM a megszorításokra! Növekedést és munkahelyeket!
29 september 2010 : een nieuw startpunt voor de Europese mobilisatie
29. September: Ein neuer Ausgangspunkt für die europäische Mobilisierung

For further information please visit: http://www.etuc.org/a/7407