AKEL on European Commision President Juncker’s speech

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 16th September 2016, Nicosia

 

In his annual State of the Union speech, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker admitted that the EU is engulfed in deadlocks, that the EU is in the worst situation it has ever been in. Nonetheless, the President of the European Commission, just like other EU leaders too, is not willing to discuss a real reversal of the policy that is multiplying poverty, unemployment, inequalities, a policy which creates the wars, migration and fascism.

The root of the crisis does not lie in the “limited powers” of the EU, as the President of the European Commission claims. Besides, even in the areas where the EU has powers and excessive powers, they are not exercised in favor of the peoples and workers, but to the benefit of the elite and multinationals. The wishful thinking and declarations are of no use so long as the same recipes are still being implemeted in all areas, even with an altered mixture.

The President of the European Commission cannot explain the following:

– How could certain powerful member states have violated the fiscal rules for years, while other member states are facing blatent blackmails and threats?

– What future can young people hope for when half-measures are being proposed for unemployment instead of policies for full, permanent and dignified jobs?

– How will the problems of European societies be solved when the “Banking Union” being promoted is boosting giant banks, the losses of which were paid and are being paid by the peoples?

– What benefit do the peoples of Europe have from the waging of the EU military missions around the world or from the EU investment campaigns in Africa?

– What does it mean for the peace and security of the continent and of the world when the leadership of the EU, as C. Juncker reiterated too, is envisioning an EU army, EU military commands for interventions in the Middle East and “investing” in the military arms industry and in the “complementarity” with NATO?

– How will the tragedies in the Mediterranean end, when the EU is not opening up legal and safe routes for refugees to apply for asylum and at the same time when the EU is enforcing a”fortress Europe” with coastguards, border guards, military operations, walls and electrified fences?

For AKEL, the answers to these questions are found neither in the ruling political force’s idolization of the EU, nor in extreme right-wing Euroscepticism. The answers lie in the waging of struggles for working people’s rights, social solidarity, democracy and peace, for a different path of economic and social development of Europe, for the Europe of the peoples.