Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-22-Speech-2-032"
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"en.20050222.4.2-032"2
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"Mr President, the reports on public finances in EMU and the state of the European economy do not under any circumstances take account of grass-roots problems which are common to the workers of the Member States in that their cause is the same: the anti-grass roots policy of the European Union. The fact that these are common problems is clear from the workers' demonstrations being held in most countries against the cost of living, unemployment, low wages, redundancies, the privatisation of the health, education and welfare sectors, longer working times, insecurity and uncertainty about the future.
The rapporteurs, instead of replying to the foregoing, support stricter compliance with the Stability Pact, with extortionate tax and anti-grass roots austerity programmes to combat deficits. In other words, it is always the workers who pay, never the plutocracy. At the same time, they are calling for the anti-grass roots Lisbon strategy to be applied quickly, in order to promote greater exploitation of labour through part-time and temporary work, longer working hours, later retirement, the abolition of government participation in social security and the circumvention of collective agreements. This is the new redistribution of wealth, with even greater benefit for big business and even more inequality and injustice. They call for the European economy – by which they mean the profitability of the European monopolies – to be invigorated with new, harsher, more anti-grass roots austerity measures and for the workers to make greater sacrifices, for their own good, while demanding that governments reduce even the minimal social spending which remains and make immediate changes to insurance and pension systems which, as they say, are inadequate.
These are the European Union philosophies and policies which cause the workers to express their feelings by staying away from elections, such as the European elections, for which there was a 40% turnout, or the recent referendum in Spain on the so-called European Constitution, for which there was a 35-40% turnout. These are signs which express the workers' feelings of indifference and that is why they are turning their back on the European Union. However, the best response is a fight in the form of organised disobedience to this policy and a counter-attack designed to bring about its radical change."@en1
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