Ideas and Initiatives for Common Action

The Party of the European Left organized a Conference on the Balkans and South Eastern Europe on June 7-8 in Thessaloniki, with SYNASPISMOS as host.
Participants from fourteen parties gathered here to discuss the current situation in the South East European region and focused mainly on three themes:

• The situation on the Balkans: peace and European security
• Possibilities and initiatives for the development of a South East European cooperation
• Environmental interdependence: a proposal for a Balkan Ecological Charter

It was stressed that the slogan of the second EL Congress “Building Alternatives” can and must also be promoted in the Balkan region. The EL is fully committed to working towards establishing relationships and cooperation with the left and progressive forces in the region.

1. The defence and establishment of a lasting peace constitutes a top priority for the region, especially for the Western Balkans where many wounds remain open from the dissolution and the wars in Yugoslavia, which culminated in the NATO bombing in 1999. It’s a region where international law must be upheld, especially in the case of Kosovo.
The forces of the Left, ecology and peace in the Balkans and in Europe will promote a multifaceted concept of security – political, economic, social, ecological, human – rejecting options which lead to war and to violence to border changes, to the undermining of international law and to violation of human and minority rights. They will incorporate feminist and ecological approaches to security into the political discourse and actions. They will lend their support to mutually acceptable solutions for the problems and to overcome tensions between countries in the region, steering clear of the “divide and rule” logic and nationalist hatreds. They will take initiatives towards demilitarization and not further militarization, such as the joint campaign of SYN-ODP for the mutual reduction of arms and military budgets of Greece and Turkey, for the region to become a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and foreign bases, as contribution towards a nuclear-free Europe.

2. The European Left will spare no effort in contributing for the broadest possible peace coalition, despite differences over specific issues. In pursuing common action, we have to associate the struggle for peace in South Eastern Europe with the cause of European security – something which requires the creation of a pan-European security system, including Russia, based on the principles of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). We must also reject courses of action capable of triggering new arms races and a new division in Europe, such as the “antimissile shield”.

3. The European and the Balkan left will assume initiatives aimed at the development and enhancement of cooperation in South Eastern Europe, which can help to nurture other forms of cooperation in the broader region, such as the Black Sea Cooperation. This requires the active participation of the civil societies, social movements, trade unions, feminist, peace and ecological initiatives. It is necessary to overcome the logic of the blind pursuit of profit as a basis for the coexistence of the countries and the peoples, and establish instead policies of solidarity and co-development. Regional cooperation must also contribute to creating the necessary conditions for the protection of social rights, the equality of all people living in the countries including migrants, combat organized crime and trafficking. In particular, it was stressed that the struggle against violence on women, protection of the rights of children, should be consistently on the agenda.
Cross-border cooperation can be exceptionally beneficial, an area in which local authorities have already started to contribute. We will also support initiatives and common actions in the field of culture, where the Balkan people share a wealth of common traditions.

4. Our position for sustainable development and the growing environmental interdependence call for intensifying cooperation in the areas of environmental protection, energy policies and biological diversity. The EL wants to promote new strategies in energy saving, and to re-orientate the production of energy towards using renewable energy sources instead of new nuclear plants.
We want to work together with organizations which are active in the environmental sector. For this, we are proposing to elaborate together a Balkan Ecological Charter. It is our goal for this initiative to mobilize and unite a wide array of forces in the region, but we also aspire for it to find substantial support in the broader European region as well. In addition, a common action could also be developed for a Balkan "free of GMOs" (Genetically Modified Organisms). Finally, we call on the Balkan countries to cooperate within the framework of the UN, towards a “New Kyoto” agreement.

5. The EL supports the European prospect on the Balkan countries, while also struggling for a radical reorientation of the current neo-liberal policies carried out by the EU and its member countries. In order to achieve this, we must struggle, along with the left forces in the Balkans, to establish relations of equality and solidarity between the EU and the people of the region, relations based on promoting real convergence and enhancing social cohesion, and this should also apply to the EU “New Neighbourhood Policy”.

Thessaloniki, 8 June 2008


Adopted Motion
The women present at the Conference on Balkan Developments in South Eastern Europe and the Balkan region discussed and decided the importance to establish an Inter-Balkan Network that will accept as member parties, women organizations and individuals. This Network will concentrate and make projects on the special gender issues of the Balkans, such as discrimination in labour, sexism in society, trafficking, precariousness, war, nationalism, domestic labour of immigrants, domestic violence and the absence of a welfare system. The Network should be supported by the Party of the European Left, the EL Fem and women organizations across Europe.

Please find here the conference agenda .