Interests and antagonisms prevail in the EU instead of solidarity
The EU’s policies will have the well-known results
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 14th April 2020, Nicosia
The peoples and states of the European Union demand and need cooperation and solidarity in the battle against the pandemic. Unfortunately, the EU is incapable of responding. It has even failed in coordinating efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Instead of solidarity, once again, fierce antagonisms and the powerful economic interests of states and monopolies prevail.
What has been decided, but also what has been rejected by the leadership of the EU far from responds to the dramatic conditions and real needs. Instead of putting forth substantial solutions, the EU ruling circles with their policies will likely exacerbate the Union’s already severe deadlocks. More specifically:
– By preferring the option of the European Stability Mechanism, instead of the Eurobond as 14 Member States had requested, the EU, with Germany at the forefront, once again refers member states to new Memoranda and new periods of austerity.
– Schemes amounting to billions of Euros, such as SURE, to support employment instead of primarily supporting full and permanent jobs, are channeled to part-time employment and precarious jobs, thus paving the way for the expansion of deregulated forms of employment on a European level.
– The character of the EU Budget remains the same, without a redistribution of funds. How is it possible in these conditions for the EU to continue to channel billions of Euros towards the arms industry instead of health and social cohesion?
– The expansion of the European Investment Bank’s program for small and medium-sized enterprises is positive. But it will only have a real impact if this support reaches thousands of small family businesses.
The government has a responsibility to exhaust every possibility to extract resources from European programs. At the same time, it must demand real solidarity from the EU, which presupposes radically different policies, different priorities and, ultimately, a fundamentally different Europe.
