The debt issue should be on the agenda of the Left’s discussions
Statement of Neoclis Sylikiotis, member of the Political Bureau, AKEL MEP and GUE/NGL Vice-President at the GUE/NGL Hearing “Peripheral debts: Causes, consequences and solutions”
2nd July 2015, Brussels
“
The time has come for the Left parties and movements in Europe to raise the issue of the debt, put the question of the Eurozone and the Euro on the agenda of their discussions and elaborate and formulate a strategy for an independent, progressive policy of social growth, in the direction of a Europe of solidarity, democracy and social justice, a Europe of the peoples.
The example set by Greece unfortunately is not the only example of an attempt to impose the Brussels ruling circles in the Eurozone. As a result of the implementation of the same policies, Cyprus today has a public debt that has risen to 107% of its GDP, Belgium 106.5%, Ireland 110%, Italy 132% and Portugal 130.2% of GDP, demonstrating that even if a country has exited the adaptation programme and Memorandum, what is left behind is the continuation of austerity, forcible deregulation of the labour market, deindustrialization, privatizations and the dismantling of the welfare state.
The issue of the debt that was enforced on the peoples, and which is growing constantly due to the imposition of the Memoranda, the neoliberal vicious austerity policies and the policies of dependence being imposed on the peoples, must be addressed in a radical way.”
