Speech of Stavros Evagorou, Member of the Political Bureau of the C.C. of AKEL, at the Seminar “Another Europe of workers and peoples, rights, social justice and sovereignty”
Seminar organized by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
Lisbon, Portugal, 12th April 2013
Comrades and friends,
Allow me first of all to thank the Portuguese Communist Party for its invitation. Permit me to convey the thanks of the Central Committee of AKEL to the Portuguese Communist Party for its internationalist solidarity towards the Cypriot people, its support to the struggle for the liberation of Cyprus from the Turkish troops and for the reunification of our country and people. We congratulate your Party for the productive role it is playing in the International Communist Movement, given that it retains the vision of socialism high among its priorities.
Your Party is playing a leading role in the proper functioning of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left. It is playing a leading role in organizing the repulsion of the attack of multinational capital by the Communist and Workers Parties, by the working class in alliance with popular forces which can and must react to this attack of the system.
We know your struggles in Portugal. You were the first to define the duties of the working class in your country. The “Pact of Aggression” against the people of your country that was concluded by the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the political parties of the Right and Social democracy is exhausting and draining the people .Your Party is leading the struggle to abolish this Pact of imperialist dependence and enslavement that is not only abolishing the gains of the April Revolution, but creating new faits accomplis. The difficulties may be enormous, but there is no other alternative other than organised resistance. Together we will achieve to place the notion of optimism for another society without exploitation of man by man once again at the centre of the debate.
The recent painful experiences of Cyprus represent an extremely useful experience for drawing conclusions about the European Union. In general, the developments in the EU, and especially within the Euro zone, have confirmed all the basic assessments about the policies that are dominant in the EU. The European Union is an advanced form of capitalist integration – despite any peculiarities that exist – and it is no different in its essence and orientation from the other imperialist centres of the planet.
This was initially set out and consequently repeatedly determined by the Founding and other EU Treaties, culminating in the Lisbon Treaty, but also through the institutionalization of the so-called intercomplimentarity between the EU and NATO. The deepening of the internal market, the liberalizations, privatizations, the unbridled operation of the financial sector, the deregulation of labour relations, the cuts in salaries and pensions, the austerity and cuts in social expenditures, the commercialization of health and education, the inequality in pay between women and men, youth unemployment and child poverty are dramatically obvious not only in official statistics, but also reflected in the daily reality of the peoples.
The military and political cooperation of the EU with NATO, the tens of EU military missions in so many corners of the world, the complicity and guilty silence of the EU with regards the flagrant violations of International Law, such as in the cases of the secession of Kosovo and the Turkish occupation in Cyprus, the unacceptable policy of keeping equal distances from Israel and the Palestinian people, the unequal and unjust economic Partnership Agreements the EU is forming with African and Latin American countries all demonstrate that the declared aims for the EU to become “the most competitive centre of the world” are tantamount to a geopolitical, economic and military expansionism.
Inevitably, since this policy cannot be implemented with the consent of the peoples, there is an attempt to silence and disorientate them. It is not accidental that on the issues that will determine the future of Europe, the peoples of the EU were not given the opportunity to express their will. The laws on terrorism, the Schengen Treaty, the keeping and retaining of files on personal data and biometric data on passports are an integral part of a more general course of the EU towards the curbing of civil liberties and democratic freedoms. Furthermore, it is also no coincidence that neofascism, xenophobia, “anti-political” populism are on the rise, whilst at the same time anti-communism and the historically unfounded equating of communism with fascism have assumed an institutional basis. The so-called democratic deficit of the EU and these reactionary ideological fixations must not be interpreted in a fragmentary way, but rather as a central part and vehicle of the EU´s anti-peoples strategic policies, as the only way for the ruling class.
Comrades,
The socio-economic balance of forces in each member-state is accelerating or slowing down, accordingly, the course of developments. Cyprus, as Portugal too, is today under the great attack of the IMF and the EU whose viciousness has shaken the world. The recent Eurogroup decisions on Cyprus and the Memorandum the Troika has agreed with the new Right and centre-right government have caused an unprecedented shock for our people and the Cyprus economy.
The haircut on the deposits in the banks in Cyprus is tantamount to a violation of the first principle of the capitalist mode of production, of private property. There is no haircut with regards Deutsche Bank, but it is implemented on the Popular Bank and Bank of Cyprus. They are not only stealing salary workers, but also the Funds of the working people and the savings of thousands of Cypriot people that have been accumulated over decades. At the same time they are doing this, they are transmitting the message that nothing is safeguarded unless it is in the metropolises of capitalism. The privatizations of the three profitable Semi-state organizations (ports, telecommunications and electricity) and the cuts in salaries, pensions and social expenditures will lead to recession, unemployment and poverty. But at the same time they will sell-off the public wealth to the international monopolies.
AKEL knows and warned the Cypriot people that the EU has goals that go much deeper and have to do with the multinational companies plans targeting the huge natural gas reserves discovered in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus. It is also evident that there are plans and machinations for a “closing” of the Cyprus problem outside the framework of International Law and the United Nations Resolutions. The goal of the new Right wing government of Cyprus for the island to become a member of the NATO Programme “Partnership for Peace” and of NATO itself is not irrelevant to these plans. At the same time, the choices that have been made are part of the broader framework of the intensification of the inter-capitalist competition, since they also targeted Russian capital which is in competition with the economies of the Euro zone. AKEL is calling for the rejection of the Memorandum with the Troika. We are for an alternative path. Towards this end, we are preparing and elaborating the comprehensive proposal which the Party will propose to the Cypriot people.
Comrades,
The developments highlight that the European Union and its path may be an option for the monopolies and the ruling classes of our countries, but it is not, and cannot be, the future of our peoples.
However, Europe is not the European Union and the directorates of Brussels. Europe is the democratic and militant traditions and history of the peoples of our continent. Europe is the values of humanism, peace, solidarity, social and political rights. Europe is the class and socio-political struggles of our peoples, the Revolutions that have shaken the world, from the French Revolution and the Russian October to the Spain of the Republic and the Anti-Fascist Victory of the Peoples, the Revolution of April in Portugal. This is the Europe that inspires us today, as well as for tomorrow; this is the Europe that unites the peoples.
Comrades,
There are immediate demands that can be embraced widely by the peoples of Europe and we believe that they must become goals of assertion and struggle:
– The immediate emancipation of the European states from the IMF and the neoliberal attack which has intensified as a result of the crisis; the abolition of the Stability Pact and its political consequences.
– The reversal of the liberalizations and privatizations procedures; the maintaining and enhancement of the role of the public organizations in strategic sectors and areas.
– We defend the productive sectors that can create real growth and development to the benefit of societies, ecologically and economically sustainable. We reject the orientation of the Common Policies on Agriculture and Fisheries and stress the need that the peculiarities and sovereignty of each country in its economic policy must be respected.
– We demand a significant increase in public expenditures for the development of Renewable Sources of Energy.
– The right of the member-states to regulate prices for basic goods and products should be brought back.
– The creation of a European Housing Programme Fund and the elaboration of public schemes by the states with economic incentives for cheaper housing and a radical solution to the problem of the homeless.
– Demilitarization of the EU´s foreign policy, resistance to the plans for the deployment of an anti-missile shield in Europe, the dissolution of all foreign military bases, the withdrawal of European countries troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and other warzones and the disengagement of European states from the tentacles of NATO.
– Rejection of the repressive mechanisms that are creating a “fortress-Europe”, the safeguarding and respect of the rights of immigrants and refugees.
Comrades,
The struggle for these demands concerning today’s acute social problems cannot be successful if they are not linked to a comprehensive proposal for social change that will inspire the working people, youth and the peoples. Besides, as the global capitalist crisis is deepening so will it be understood that the essence itself of capitalism cannot change, be regulated and “humanized”. The capitalist system has demonstrated its historical limits and now represents an obstacle to the progress of Europe and the whole of humanity. Consequently, in opposition to the EU of monopolies, wars and unemployment, our vision, with our own struggles, will be gaining ground in the people’s consciousness for the Europe of the peoples, for the socialist future of our countries.
The Europe we want will not compel its member-states to slash social policy so that the suffocating Maastricht criteria regarding public deficits and public debt will be met. The Europe we desire will put the economy, the achievements of science and technology in the service of people’s needs. It will be based on the active participation of the people without tolerating any discrimination against anyone. The people will be its ruler and master. It will define goals for combating and eradicating unemployment, poverty, social exclusion and illiteracy. Goals will be measured with criteria for social and cultural development, with indicators regarding health and the educational level of our societies and for substantial results concerning environmental protection.
The Europe we want will not undermine the sovereignty of states, and particularly that of the small states, as is the case today with my country. It will ensure real sovereignty, the sovereignty of the people of each state over its country, its own wealth and the options each state makes.
Comrades,
We need to step up our struggle on a local level; to intensify our struggle to reverse the current storm. We should be and prove in practice that we are the defenders of people’s rights, despite the attacks on us by the mass media. We should guide cooperation on a social level and create the perspective so that these cooperations will develop into a political cooperation as well, as much as this depends on us. We should connect this daily engagement and struggle with the need to overcome capitalism’s deadlocks against the working class, employees and the self-employed. This can be achieved only if the system itself that is provoking these deadlocks is abolished. Subsequently, we need to expand our initiatives on a European and international level.
In conclusion, we assure you that we not only are aware of, but support your own struggles. We also know about your day-to-day struggles. For example, the fight to increase the minimum wage to 515 Euros is facing the resistance of the plutocracy and the ruling class of your country. But these struggles must be waged because it is through this fire of the class struggle that the people distinguish who is struggling for its interests and those who are fighting for the few.
