The Presidentof SYRIZA,AlexisTsipraswill be participating and speakingat the opengatheringof l' Altra Europa con Tsipras on Friday, July 18at18:30, in PiazzaFarnese, Rome.
Therally will be attended by threeMEPs of the "Tsipras List": Barbara Spinelli, Eleonora Forenza andCurzioMaltese. The National Conference of the "Altra Europa" committees will be held on Saturday, atRome'sFarneseTheatre, whichwill schedule, among other things, its initiativesagainstausterity during the semester of the Italian EU presidency.
And it cannot unite people if it does not unite itself.
We did that in Greece – with SYRIZA.
And our experience shows that when the Left unites,
It does not simply add forces.
It multiplies forces and political impact.
That will also happen in Slovenia.
Because your efforts springs not from party mechanisms, alien to the people.
But from the most energetic sectors of Slovenian society.
It is rooted not in dark offices.
But in the open sea of popular mobilization.
It is the political child of the Slovenian “winter of discontent” – same time last year.
It is society in motion.
This is your response to the neoliberal zombies, who breed corruption, austerity, unemployment and poverty.
This is the response of the social Left to the old political establishment which is withering away.
In Slovenia, in Greece, in Europe.
Next May, in less than ninety days.
It will be in our own hands to throw them into history's wastepaper basket.
Dear Comrades,
Next May, each and every citizen.
In each and every corner of this Continent.
Holds our common future into her hands.
If they vote Left.
Europe will turn Left.
And then the Eurozone crisis could be resolved collectively, fairly and credibly.
And we could pave the way for Europe’s balanced and viable growth.
We could set the basis for the Europe of employment and justice.
We will reject the failed neoliberal recipe for the crisis.
Because the Eurozone crisis is a crisis of the neoliberal paradigm.
It appears with different, but similar faces.
As debt crisis in Greece, and as banking crisis in Slovenia.
A month ago, Olli Rehn made it clear that, at the beginning of the Greek solvency crisis, back in 2010, Europe sacrificed Greece to save German, French and other major European banks.
That the political establishment of Europe did not want to have Greece’s public debt restructured at that time
Because, then, the European banks would need to pay for their excessive risk-taking with Greek bonds.
They chose to cause an unprecedented, in peacetime, humanitarian crisis in Greece, just to save casino capitalism in Europe.
And, in that way, they forced taxpayers in the South to pay for bank profits in the North.
What is happening four years later?
Now, they reject direct European Stability Mechanism (ESM) recapitalization of banks.
They prefer to lend governments to rescue bankrupted banks at home – at least for the moment.
And, in that way, they force taxpayers in the South to finance bank profits in the South
So, one way or another, they force the South to pay for the banking system of the entire Europe.
This cannot go on.
Enforcing «bail-out» and «bail-in» solutions, or a combination of both, is a recipe for crisis contagion and overall destabilization.
And Greece, which is systemically important to the Eurozone, cannot be the testing ground for a combination of this kind.
Nor could Slovenia be that.
Looking at Slovenia as Greek, I’m afraid that I’m watching a film whose ending I know.
And the ending is the troika and a Memorandum.
Slovenia is on the slippery downhill of Greece.
And privatizing fifteen key enterprises will only deprive the country from future income.
It won’t end the banking crisis.
Which, slowly but steadily, will evolve into a public-debt problem.
And unless Europe takes a decisive turn in May.
Unless people vote Left.
And the United left and the European Left come out of the election as strong as never before.
The troika will step in.
But this is not the story of Greece and Slovenia alone.
This is the story of the entire European periphery.
And if we don’t work together.
If we don’t establish networks of cooperation.
If each of us acts alone.
We will all lose.
Ms Merkel will win.
The neoliberal hegemony will endure.
But peoples of Europe will lose.
The Združena Levica (United Left), SYRIZA, the Party of the European Left,
All the democratic and progressive social and political forces,
We all have a common task:
To pull Europe out of the deep darkness of neoliberalism.
Never before since the end of the Cold War had Europe been so divided and undemocratic.
Never before since the end of the Cold War had Europeans been so suspicious of each other.
Never before since the end of the Cold War had Europeans been so Eurosceptic.
This is exactly what motivated my candidacy for the Presidency of the European Commission on behalf of the European Left:
To end austerity to regain Democracy.
To hold back the social processes that revive nationalist tendencies and xenophobia, and inflame right-wing populism and extremism.
To reunite peoples and countries that neoliberalism divides.
To forge the widest possible social and political alliance against austerity.
To put forward the solidarity of young women and men, of the working people, of the pensioners and the unemployed in a Europe against the solidarity of the capital.
It is the only solidarity that could break through the dichotomy North-South; that could demolish the new «wall of money» between creditors and debtors that further divides Europe.
So, our candidacy is not a typical one.
It is a mandate for hope and change in Europe.
Because the Europe we live in, is not our Europe.
This is the Europe of the neoliberal consensus.
Of the conservatives, the liberals, and the leadership of social-democracy.
And I am wondering:
The opposite political pole of Mr Jean-Claude Juncker and MrMartin Schulz.
The candidates who are supported by the European establishment.
If any of those two candidates is elected.
What exactly will he do to immediately end austerity and the failed policies of the so-called «internal devaluation» in Europe?
What exactly will he do to finance from European sources balanced and viable growth in Europe?
What in particular will he do to hold back the humanitarian crisis in Greece?
The people of Europe need commitments and action – not wishes.
They don’t want politics as usual – they want a break with policies and politics as usual.
That’s why they are skeptical about Europe and European integration.
And the Europe of Mr Juncker nad Mr Schulz, is exactly the Europe we want to change.
In place of a Europe of the fear of unemployment and poverty;
In the place of the current Europe that redistributes income to the few and fear to the many;
In place of a Europe in the service of bankers’ needs,
We want a Europe in the service of human needs.
Comrades and Friends,
The European establishment has managed the crisis, not in order to resolve it, but in order to rewrite Europe’s postwar political economy.
In order to trigger the avalanche of capital against labour.
That’s why Chancellor Merkel in Germany, along with the neoliberal bureaucratic elite in Brussels, treats social solidarity and human dignity as economic distortions.
And national sovereignty as a nuisance.
That’s why they are forcing Europe to wear the straightjacket of austerity, discipline and deregulation.
Our own response is straightforward:
The European Union will either be democratic or will not exist.
And these days, it is proven once again, that the greatest threat to democracy is the rise of fascism.
Political developments in Ukraine should alarm each and every citizen in Europe.
It is unacceptable and dangerous that the European political establishment tolerates the neonazi «Right Sector» in positions of power.
It is unacceptable and dangerous that the European political establishment tolerates a Prime Minister giving nazi-style salute.
There are powerful countries in Europe with the historic responsibility not to let persecution of Jews, minorities and communists happen again.
What we immediately need is a peaceful settlement of the crisis.
The only one who has the right to decide for its future is the Ukrainian people itself, in a democratic way.
Comrades and Friends,
I want to make clear once again, that my candidacy, is not a candidacy on behalf of Europe’s South.
It is a candidacy of all European citizens, and especially for the people who suffer from austerity, regardless of their address.
Whether they live in the South of Europe or in the North or in the East or the West.
Whether they live in Slovenia or in Grecce.
We particularly address young men and women.
Because for the first time in postwar Europe, a generation of young people expects to be worse-off than their parents.
The young see their expectations entrapped into long-term unemployment and the prospects of low-wage and jobless growth.
Four million jobless under-25s, in the Euro-zone cannot be tolerated!
One in four young women and men unemployed in Slovenia cannot be tolerated!
A lost generation cannot be tolerated!
We have to act not for them but with them!
And we have to act now!
Comrades and Friends,
We are fighting for a democratic, social and ecological Europe.
For the democratic reorganization of the European Union.
To set in motion the ecological transformation of production.
To reform the European immigration framework.
We support the immediate repeal of the Memoranda and the coordinated reflation of all European economies.
We want a genuine European Central Bank, acting as lender of last resort, not only for banks but also for states.
We believe that Europe needs its own Glass-Steagall Act, in order to separate commercial and investment banking activities and prevent such a dangerous merger of risks into one uncontrolled entity.
We want effective European legislation which taxes offshore economic and entrepreneurial activities.
We support the collective, credible and definite resolution of the Eurozone debt crisis through a European Debt Conference, predicated on the 1953 London Conference for Germany’s debt.
Comrades and Friends,
In the May election, the European establishment will hear our loud voice:
«Gotofsi» (You are finished).
This is a word that Mr Samaras and Mr Venizelos should learn as quickly as possible.
The Memorandum has failed in Greece.
The Samaras-Venizelos coalition government already is at the emergency exit.
The entire old world that let the country collapse is at the emergency exit.
In the next few months, SYRIZA will no longer be government-in-waiting.
It will be the first government of the Left in the history of Greece.
And it will be a government of all Greeks.
Regardless of their vote.
Regardless of their ideology or their political convictions.
Our electoral victory will signify a radical break with the past of Greece.
The people and the SYRIZA government will march together into the long, difficult, but full of hope and positive expectations road of reconstruction and development.
But at the same time, the SYRIZA victory would create, on its own, the conditions for policy change and a new political balance in the entire European Union.
It will be the beginning of the end of austerity in Europe.
Comrades and Friends,
Neoliberalism is neither a natural phenomenon nor is it invincible.
We are confident that the European Left will be the positive surprise of the May election.
We are confident that you – the United Left in Slovenia – will be the positive surprise of next May.
The European Left counts on you.
SYRIZA counts on you.
We all wish you good and victorious struggles.
The future of Europe is on the Left.
This will be the May of the European Left.
This will be the May of hope and change in Europe.
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Athens.
I wish the best of successes to your two-day conference, organized by our own Nikos Choundis—who is going to lose this privilege of singularity when joined soon by a greater company of SYRIZA European parliament members—along with our group in the European parliament, the European United Left / Nordic Green Left(GUE/NGL).
I welcome you in a pre-election Greece, where the departing Samaras-Venizelos coalition government is fighting its last desperate rearguard battles to stay in power.
But Greece is ready today not simply to turn a page—Greece is ready to read from a different book.
The memoranda of austerity have failed miserably and have done so on all indices.
They have dismantled the country’s productive core.
They have sent unemployment to incredible heights.
They have created circumstances of a humanitarian crisis.
You are today visiting in a country that has been left to die a slow death because the leadership of Europe has chosen it to play the role of a guinea pig.
And has imposed on it the kind of medicine which has brought about worse results than the illness itself had originally generated.
This way, while the country’s foreign debt was at 125% of GDP in 2010, something that constituted the pretext at the time for putting Greece under the memorandum, today, after almost four years of memorandum enforcement the debt has reached 175% of GDP.
Plus, the forecasting is that it will go up to 205% of GDP in 2015.
That’s the “success story” of the Greek government and the troika in Greece.
They have truly left a country in the hands of the butcher, as the Spanish MEP Alejandro Cercas has observed.
They have led an entire people to the slaughter house of the memorandum. And today, instead of admitting their mistake, of apologizing, and of correcting it they insist on the continuation of the same mistake, while they are preparing a third installment of the memorandum series. Only they are just looking for another word for it in order to fool us.
And, please, allow me at this point to remind people once again: the departing Samaras government has no claim on any political legitimacy for binding this country and this people to yet another Memorandum, regardless of the name it will bear.
Instead, it has the obligation to put to the Greek people’s judgment its decisions as well as its commitments.
By the same token, our partners in Europe should also be well advised that we are not going to accept pre-election faits accomplis of this kind.
Friends and comrades,
Developments in Greece are exceptionally instructive but also critical for the trajectory of all of Europe.
Because, if Greece was chosen as a guinea pig, it was for this reason, namely to find out how much a people can bear the harsh austerity so as to use it as measurement for the other countries too.
Therefore, the extent to which the guinea pig will react and so cancel the experiment is critical not only for the Greek people but for all the peoples in Europe.
In that sense, the upcoming political change in Greece will be significant for all of Europe. And, reversely, the various balances of political forces that will be created in Europe should prove critical for the outcome of the political change in Greece.
Because no change can be sustained within a context of isolation—you see, the small Gaulish village bears it all out only on the pages of Goscinny and Uderzo, not in a monetary union.
It is for that reason that we are seeking, and that all of us together can make it real, the political change in Greece such that it will inspire a political change in Europe. And that’s a realistic plan.
We have daily, live evidence of it in our campaign for the presidency of the European Commission.
People are hungry for change. It is in their hands to force it into existence.
Especially the peoples of the South, trapped as they are by the austerity memoranda.
To mobilize against austerity and to demand from their governments to come together all of us for a change in policy in Europe. Because we are struggling for a breakthrough that is both inspired by solidarity and viability covering all the over-indebted countries in the South in Europe.
With the European debt conference.
This coming May can and will be the month of the peoples.
It’s going to be very critical because the people’s vote will form the new balance of political forces in Europe for dealing with the crisis.
Friends and comrades,
We are not being irrelevant when we are demanding a change of policy in Europe.
On the contrary, those who are being irrelevant are the ones trying to prevent the change from happening, all the time looking for ways to be useful to Ms Merkel.
The ground is indeed fertile for a change of policy.
Even at the level of the European parliament, which has started an inquiry into the role of the troika in the countries under a memorandum.
We have said from the start that this effort is incomplete. Especially in Greece, it disregards the political leaders during the time period of the two memoranda.
We have also said that it is a delayed effort, and during a politically suspect time—a pre-election time.
Irrespective of our plausible misgivings, however, it remains an inquiry that has managed to scare in its guilt the Greek political establishment.
To say nothing about the political wounds it has managed to open in Europe, and which will prove hard to heal, if they do heal.
It is in the citizens’ hands to force the next Commission to take seriously into account the report of the two co-rapporteurs and to change policy.
That is why these European elections are critical.
That is why it shouldn’t be one more lost opportunity.
Friends and comrades,
In every corner of Europe. In the north and the south. I believe that the basic political message of the candidacy by the Left for the presidency of the European Commission: to end austerity and to regain democracy.
Every citizen in Europe, as time goes by, realizes that the Left is the only democratic option against neo-liberalism. That the extreme and the populist right-wing is but a replacement force at neo-liberalism’s disposal.
Friends and comrades,
Allow me at this point a reference concerning the tragic events in Ukraine. The eruption in violence in the last few days has brought the country to the brink of civil war and carnage.
This development is threatening the peace and the stability in the region.
Blind violence represents no solution.
Which is why it is unthinkable when it is being indirectly applauded on the part of the European leadership as a solution.
It has been Europe’s cultural treasure and legacy, namely democracy combined with a peaceful accommodation of differences.
The only factor relevant for deciding on the future of the Ukraine is the very same Ukrainian people. And do so under conditions of sovereignty and democracy.
The European Union should avoid any inflammatory actions, such as the imposition of sanctions, and instead contribute to defuse the violence and the reaching of a peaceful and democratic arrangement.
Friends and comrades,
In view of the critical electoral battle in May,
We are all together like co-passengers in a fascinating as well as difficult voyage for change in all of Europe.
But in this voyage we are carrying in our luggage the precious load from the struggles, right on history’s rails, made by thousands of European workers, intellectuals, plain people, and, more important, by the youth of all past generations.
For the Europe of peace and democracy.
For the Europe of solidarity and justice.
For the Europe of labor and of culture; of ecology; of human and social rights.
This is how we envision a better future.
By changing the present.
Because at no other time after the war has Europe been fallen to such depths if darkness.
Never before, have fear, insecurity and pessimism burdened so heavily people’s expectations about the future.
This Europe we do not want.
This Europe we will change.
The Europe of the conservatives, the neo-liberals and the social-democratic leadership is currently re-distributing an income for the few and only fear for the many.
Our Europe guarantees life lived in dignity.
Economic and social security.
Individual liberties and individual rights.
Protection of private life and of the personal data of every citizen.
Our Europe guarantees Democracy.
The return of democracy, primarily at the place of its birth, Greece, but also throughout Europe.
I wish to you a successful conference in Athens,
Successful and noble struggles.
We will do well.
We will exceed expectations.
We will be the positive and pleasant surprise in the European elections.
This initiative by the social Left for the ending of austerity and the deepening of democracy in Europe could not have started from any other country but Italy.
Because on history’s rails your own Left, the Italian Left, has always been the laboratory of inspired analyses and bold breakthroughs.
And it is my wish to say to you that we have always followed in Greece, with great interest, your avant-garde, ideological refinements and inquiries.
At least us, the distinct historical current of renovating and radical left, that SYRIZA has combined programmatically and united politically.
For that reason, I wish to bring to you the reassurance that we at SYRIZA feel twice proud that your initiative to unite your forces in order to contribute to the change of the balance of forces in Europe has SYRIZA in mind.
Not so much because SYRIZA is today the major opposition party, and will in a few months be in government in Greece.
But because SYRIZA will not be able to become a government which will bring disruption in Greece if this disruption is not simultaneously a message of change in the whole of Europe.
Reversely, too, the change we all are anticipating will not be coming closer except through a great political disruption, with SYRIZA in government in Greece.
It is for that reason that SYRIZA aspires to be a government of hope and of change not only for the Greek people but for the peoples of Europe as well.
Barbara Spinelli has pointed it out quite aptly, that the fate of Europe depends on from Greece’s future.
The reason is that the upcoming victory by SYRIZA, and the Greek people’s coming to power will usher in a broader change in the balance of political forces within the European Union. And so it will be, ultimately, a victory for all the peoples of Europe.
• Because the negotiating of the SYRIZA government of a “European Debt Conference” will not only have to do with Greece. It will have to do with all of Europe. Because it will take a great burden off the notions of sustainability and viability of the Euro-zone itself. Plus it will set free those necessary resources which are necessary for growth resources which are under the barbarous and inefficient pressure caused by austerity measures.
• Because of the negotiating by a SYRIZA government of a “European ‘New Deal’” for the express purpose of a creating a viable and balanced growth in Europe is everybody’s business.
• Because the non-negotiable position of SYRIZA and its government for an immediate ending of austerity in Greece is not only Greece’s business.
It is the business of the whole of the South in Europe—and also of the whole of Europe. Because when the wall of glass that neo-liberal dogmatism has surrounded itself with breaks, it breaks for everybody—not just for the one smashing it.
But also because, today, at a time when, by using the crisis as a mere pretext, the neo-liberal establishment of Europe is attempting a violent re-arrangement of Europe’s division of labor, it is not just Greece that already suffers the unprecedented disaster of her human and productive capital.
It is the whole of Europe that suffers an unprecedented, deliberate bleeding,
With memoranda or without them, this extremist and punitive in its motives austerity all but extinguishes the European South’s identity from the continent’s production map.
It is confirmed by two sad examples from the recent days’ headlines. FIAT, apparently transferring its legal base to Holland, and its fiscal one to Great Britain.
And the Swedish Electrolux demanding 50% salary cuts in all of its four plants here in order for them to fall into step with those of its units in Poland.
Therefore, any success in the negotiations by a SYRIZA government will not only be Greece’s affair, even though due to four years already under memoranda my country is now in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, but it is an affair of the whole of democratic Europe,
Because we are actually planning to negotiate for growth and for democracy throughout Europe.
To put an end to the Cesarean attitude of the European Union, as Gramsci would have put it.
To domination as a tool for managing the crisis.
Something that we are all paying for.
And with the rise of the extreme right and of populism as equally atavistic reactions.
With the extreme right and the neo-Nazi gangs to show their face as fraudulent anti-systemic forces.
While in fact they are but neo-liberalism’s and the system’s special replacement forces.
What is it that all these fraudulent anti-systemic forces are inviting us to?
To the return to the nation-state, something that leads nowhere.
The reason is because in its fundamental economic functions the nation-state has been overcome by the sheer scale of common problems.
Like it or not, Europe is by now on the field of decisive social, class and political conflicts.
Europe is the battle-field of the struggle for changing the class balances. Therefore, Europe is the battle-field of choice for the Left.
For the purpose of changing the balance of political forces in favor of the agents of labor.
But also, in order to bring to the fore again the Europe of peoples, which means a Europe respectful of popular sovereignty in every country but also in its entirety.
Friends and comrades,
Never before in the post-war past of Europe were our fates so evidently and so determinately bound up.
Never before was solidarity so necessary in order to get out of the crisis in an organized way and to lay the foundation for our common future.
The neo-liberal establishment in Europe has managed this crisis not in order to resolve it but in order to revise the European post-war political economy itself.
In order to instigate an assault by capital against labor.
In order to dismantle both the rights and the hard-earned gains on the part of the forces of labor throughout Europe’s continent.
And in order to create a broadened zone of low-paid and insecure jobs in the periphery.
For that purpose it has succeeded in over-riding the very institutional framework of the European Union.
It has strangulated democracy..
It has disregarded the multifariousness of institutions at a national level
It has gagged the peoples.
Forcing upon them the straight-jacket of austerity, discipline and deregulation.
This cannot be the Europe aspired to by its own peoples.
But the Europe which with great speed these peoples are going to feel hatred for.
We who defend a United Europe cannot accept this kind of Europe.
This is the Europe of the conservatives, the neo-liberals, and the social-democrats.
It is also the Europe that we want to change.
In the place of a Europe of memoranda, fear, unemployment and poverty.
In the place of a Europe of the economic and banking oligarchy.
We want the Europe of peoples.
The Europe of solidarity.
A Europe in the service of human needs.
It is for that reason that we struggle to end austerity, to write off the greatest part of the public debt and to finance by the common European budget a strengthening of employment and growth.
In place of a dominating and anti-democratic Europe.
We demand a democratic Europe.
It is for that reason that we are struggling for the democratic re-organization of the European institutions.
So as decisions about the future of the peoples are not made behind closed doors in Brussels.
Instead, let the peoples of Europe decide their own common future. In place of fortress Europe, that leaves the immigrants drown helpless in the waters of the Mediterranean, in Lampedusa and Farmakonisi.
Or stocks them like so much freight in countries of arrival, preventing them from moving on northward, thereby constraining them inside human souls storage rooms.
We want a Europe that is humanistic. That will show respect for human life, and for that reason we are struggling to have the European framework about immigration reformed and for the annulment of the Dublin II Treaty.
In place of a Europe that destroys the natural resources and the environment in favor of the gains for the multinationals.
We want a Europe that is Green and ecological.
Putting the environment above gains.
That will organize the types of energy, will push for the ecological transformation of the production process.
Friends and comrades,
I have accepted your quite honoring proposition for what you are calling ‘Tsipras ballot’ not in order to become part of any domestic political controversy in your country, or in order to dictate to anybody.
Neither am I today among you as a leader of some new political party.
I am with you in order to bring you the experience from unity which has led SYRIZA one step away from power, in a matter of a few years.
I am among you in order to bring unity, not division, among you.
To contribute to the formation of a movement of hope and change.
That begins for the Left but addresses the whole of society.
All citizens.
Regardless of their cast vote in parliamentary elections.
Regardless of their ideological starting-point.
We are forming together a integrated ballot of the Left for the European elections on May 25 from the bottom up.
With the initiative of movements, intellectuals, and of the society of the citizens.
With the self-organization of citizens into support committees in every corner of this land.
A ballot that urges the participation and the support of all the collectivities and organized forces that will require it.
Because at times of crisis, the meaning of left and radical is whatever unites us.
Let’s put our difference aside.
Let each of us take a step behind in order to take many steps ahead together.
Self-organization and preclusion to all preclusions
That is the only way for the result to be positive in this novel endeavor.
And I have accepted your honoring proposition in order to bring to you he following message: let no other people in Europe or anywhere else in the world suffer no similar martyrdom like the one suffered by the Greek people it’s been now four years or so.
Nobody. Never. Nowhere.
Friends and comrades,
We begin together a difficult but fascinating voyage of hope and change.
Because we are the new, attempting to be born, while the old is busy dying.
We walk today on the same paths of inspiration, struggle, and hope opened by Antonio Gramsci, Palmiro Togliatti, and Enrico Berlinguer.
We leave behind the lost years to unity in the Left.
You, the society of democracy and the left, are opening today new avenues for unity and re-grouping from the bottom up.
Because you, the society of the Italian Left have been—and will prove that you remain today—a light for all of us and a precursor of progressive and democratic changes in Europe.
Together we will succeed.
We have both the optimism of awareness as well as that of the will to disagree slightly with Gramsci.
United we will succeed..
We will move forward..
We will be the pleasant and positive surprise on May 25..
It is a true joy to me that one of the first stops in our campaign for the European Parliament elections and for my candidacy on behalf of the European Left is here in Paris.
The Paris of the great social struggles, the great revolutions and the great disruptions.
A similar revolution, peaceful this time, a great disruption, is necessary for the peoples in Europe today.
Because today the European Union is in need of a radical re-orientation of its policy.
It is in need of a great change in the balance of forces, something which will constitute the first step towards a radical turn.
For its re-foundation.
And for its return to the values of solidarity, democracy, and social cohesion.
We are all present here today, all together, men and women, as fellow travelers in this great, in this difficult, but also fascinating voyage of hope and of change.
To change Europe.
To change our lives.
And in order for us to change Europe we need to re-immerse it in the principles and the values of the Enlightenment.
To the political imperatives of the French revolution.
To the very relevant today radicalism of the Eduard Herriot government—the government of the Coalition of the People of the Left.
Which around the beginning of the 1920’s put up a fight against the greedy bankers.
Against the “wall of money” that the Bank of France had raised to block the economic and social reforms of his government.
Today too, a new “wall of money” has been raised in Europe by neo-liberalism and its iron hand—the so-called “European Central Bank.”
Which is only a true replica of the Bundesbank.
We are dealing with a “wall of money” that far from stabilizing, it instead threatens the Euro-zone.
And it does so by favoring the spirit of national competitions.
Both economic as well as political.
And which it has taken two bloody wars for Europe to be liberated from.
They broke out, the first exactly one hundred years ago.
In 1914.
And the second one, seventy five years ago.
In 1939.
We have got to re-establish Europe.
By pulling down the new walls of division.
Between a wealthy North, with its trade surpluses.
And a poor South, with its trade deficits.
Between lenders and borrowers.
By pulling down the new walls that divides our societies.
Into societies of two thirds.
Which means, into societies where the two thirds of the population suffer continuously from the austerity.
And are moving at the brink of survival.
And where, on the contrary,
At the same time,
The other third behaves as though there is NO crisis.
And is becoming richer by and through this crisis.
There are many who think of us as excessively optimistic or even as word-mongers.
They are saying to us: you are not able to tackle such tremendous opponents, the banks and the markets.
But we know well that we can storm the Bastille of global neo-liberalism—that is today’s neo-liberal Europe.
All it takes is to draw upon the wisdom of the collective experience, stored through years of social struggle on the part of the peoples of Europe.
All it takes is to assess critically the lessons from the government milestones set by the Left during the 20th century.
Like, for example, the Popular Front of 1936.
Or, the government of the ‘common program of the Left’ in 1981.
Today, to be sure, the conditions still in existence around 1981 have been, unfortunately, overcome.
The socialists are shedding their progressive mandate.
And are instead co-managers in the neoliberal consensus with Mrs Merkel.
But we are obliged to put with no little force the following question to them, as well as to those social forces which have been following them till now:
On the side of which Europe are you?
Are you with the Europe of the markets and the capital, or with the Europe of the peoples?
The Europe of austerity that divides between North and South, through some virtual border along the Rhine, or with the Europe of social cohesion and solidarity that unites all peoples?
That is the dilemma.
And that dilemma is symbolized today in Europe, on the one hand by Mrs Merkel and her supporters, and on the other hand by SYRIZA and the Party of the European Left.
And when it comes to that dilemma one cannot be on board two boats at once.
Whoever proposes to do that, will end up in the water.
We have it as our goal to re-unite Europe, the very Europe that neo-liberalism is today pulling apart.
United.
All forces of the Left, everywhere.
Because what counts as leftwing today is everything that unites.
So we, in order to re-unite Europe, we must first unite our own forces.
We have done that in Greece thanks to SYRIZA.
And this unity has created a—surprising even to ourselves—self-reliant and strong social and political dynamic.
We can, together, change Europe.
We can work for a democratic, social, and ecological Europe.
With priorities:
The immediate termination of austerity and the cancellation of the Memoranda. In order to stop the most violent redistribution of income, wealth and power, done at the expense of the world of labor and in favor of capital.
The democratic re-foundation of the Euro-zone. In order that the European Central Bank should become a real central bank, meaning a lender of last resort and not only for banks but for countries as well.
A European Debt Conference. For a comprehensive and solidarity-preserving solution to the over-indebtedness by the Euro-zone.
A European ‘New Deal’. For the balanced and sustainable growth in the continent.
The ecological transformation of the process of production.
The reform of the European framework about immigration.
Friends and comrades,
Allow me to confess a deep faith of mine.
If the Francois Holland government was different, the entire Europe today would be different.
But, instead of counter-point and barrier against neo-liberalism and the “German Europe”, the Francois Holland government functions as a political multiplier of the government of Mrs Merkel.
As well as the preacher of the worst right-wing policy that Europe has ever suffered.
Because in the family picture of the European Right, Mrs Merkel sits on the right of Margaret Thatcher.
And even further to her right sits Mr. Samaras.
Only a few days ago.
Francois Holland himself.
Announced cuts of 50 billion Euros for the three years between 2015-2017.
Meaning, austerity, which reduce to recession an already anemic growth in France.
And because of France’s special weight in Europe.
The austerity of Francois Holland is for all of us in the Euro-zone another push towards recession.
Is it possible that Mr Holland has heard nothing about the international discussion with regards to the failure of austerity in Greece?
Can’t he see that the only accomplishment from austerity is the deepening of the economic crisis through the recession it certainly feeds?
While at the same time creating a democracy problem?
Because unemployment, poverty, and the hardship in survival generate fear and despair.
And let the ears open, unfortunately, of more and more people to the narrow and divisive political discourse of the extreme and populist Right.
Of the extreme and populist Right which does not represent a solution but is instead a great danger for the peoples of Europe.
With such an intolerant political program that limits itself to immigration and the regress of the democratic integration of the European Union.
Which particularizes the generalized fear from the crisis into a fear of the “Other,” the foreigner, the fellow man.
The fascists, the racists who are asking for the votes of those layers of the population hit hard by the austerity are raising immigration into a crucial dimension of the crisis.
Thereby declaring the neoliberal austerity not guilty.
Because on everything else the right-wing is completely neo-liberal.
It is for that reason that it functions politically as a tactical replacement force to neo-liberalism.
This is a role which it has proven in Greece.
With the neo-Nazi ‘Golden Dawn’ organization which pretends to be an anti-systemic force, while in reality it is nothing but the system’s longest arm.
It is for this reason that, in addition to Mrs Merkel, Mrs Le Pen too should be celebrating for the austerity imposed by Mr Holland.
Because it provides her with the necessary fuel for bringing the entire Europe under her darkness.
On May 25 then, the real dilemma is very clear:
On the one side, the political leaderships of the crisis.
The executioners of the neoliberal consensus. .
Of the policy of fear, recession, and democratic retreat in Europe.
The Right, along with the social-democrats of Mr. Holland and Mr. Schulz.
And on the other side, are the peoples of Europe.
Who, regardless of their ideological starting-point and their party preference are looking to us :
The European left of hope and change.
It is for that reason that we are addressing every active citizen, every democrat, progressive, left-wing, social-democrat, and socialist.
To participate in the elections.
To vote.
Because if she doesn’t do it herself, then someone else is going to do it for her.
Because that is the simple math of the ballot.
To vote with the mind and to vote with the heart.
The European Left is the only credible alternative force to seek to power against the neo-liberalism of conservatives and social-democrats.
To come with us in order to replace fear with hope.
To come with us in order to re-build the Europe of democracy and human rights.
Friends and comrades,
Today.
With your manifest presence.
You have offered a hope to change.
You have given strength to democracy.
You have given a prospect to the European Left.
On May 25 we will be the pleasant and positive surprise.
We will stand high in order to also RAISE high the democracy in Europe.
Farewell and thanks to you all.
Amis et camarades,
C’est un vrai plaisir pour moi qu’une des premières étapes de notre campagne pour les européennes et pour ma candidature au nom du Parti de la Gauche Européenne, se déroule ici à Paris.
Le Paris des grandes luttes sociales, des grandes révolutions et des grands bouleversements. Une révolution similaire, pacifique, un grand bouleversement est nécessaire pour les peuples d’Europe aujourd’hui. Parce que l’Union Européenne a besoin d'une réorientation radicale de ses politiques. Cela nécessite un grand changement du rapport des forces, quelque chose qui constituera un premier pas vers un virage radical à gauche. Pour sa refondation. Et pour son retour aux valeurs de solidarité, de démocratie et de cohésion sociale.
Nous sommes aujourd’hui ici, tous et toutes ensemble, compagnons de route de ce grand, difficile, mais aussi fascinant voyage de l’espoir et du changement. Pour changer l’Europe. Pour changer notre vie.
Et afin de changer l’Europe il faut l’immerger de nouveau dans les principes et les valeurs des Lumières. Dans les impératifs politiques de la Révolution Française. Dans le radicalisme, toujours pertinent aujourd'hui, du gouvernement Herriot – le gouvernement de coalition du peuple de la Gauche. Qui, au début des années ’20, a mené la bataille contre les Banquiers voraces. Contre «le mur de l’argent» que la Banque de France avait bâti face aux réformes économiques et sociales de son gouvernement.
Et, aujourd’hui, un nouveau «mur de l’argent» est bâti en Europe par le néolibéralisme et son « gros bras » – la soi-disante «Banque Centrale Européenne» Qui est seulement la réplique parfaite de la Bundesbank.
Un «mur de l’argent» qui ne stabilise pas mais, au contraire, menace la zone euro. Et favorise les antagonismes nationaux. Economiques et aussi sociaux. Desquels sont sorties deux guerres sanglantes pour l’Europe Elles ont éclaté, la première il y a exactement 100 ans En 1914 Et la deuxième, il y a 75 ans En 1939
Nous devons reconstruire l’Europe.
En démolissant ce nouveau mur de division Entre le Nord riche avec les excédents commerciaux Et le pauvre Sud avec les déficits commerciaux Entre créanciers et emprunteurs
En démolissant le nouveau mur européen qui divise nos sociétés En sociétés des "deux tiers" C’est-à-dire, en sociétés dont les deux tiers souffrent en permanence à cause de l’austérité Se trouvant à la limite de la survie Et au même moment, Un tiers se comporte comme s’il n’y avait pas de crise Il s’enrichit par et pendant la crise
Beaucoup pensent que nous sommes excessivement optimistes ou, même, des marchands de mots. Ils nous disent : vous n’êtes pas capables de gagner face à de si énormes adversaires, les banques et les marchés. Mais nous le savons bien que nous pouvons envahir la Bastille du néolibéralisme global, qu'est l’actuelle Europe néolibérale.
Tout ce qu’il faut c'est profiter de la sagesse de l’expérience collective, accumulée par des années de luttes sociales des peuples d’Europe. Tout ce qu’il faut c'est d’évaluer de manière critique les leçons des gouvernements importants de la Gauche au 20ème siècle. Comme, par exemple, le Front Populaire en 1936 Ou le gouvernement du «programme commun de la Gauche» en 1981. Aujourd’hui, certainement, les conditions de 1981 sont, malheureusement, renversées. Les socialistes rejettent leurs mandats progressistes Et, au contraire, ils sont les «co-managers» du consensus néolibéral, ensemble avec Madame Merkel. Or, nous sommes obligés de leur demander avec force: Aux côtés de quelle Europe êtes-vous ?
Êtes-vous avec l’Europe des marchés et du capital, ou avec l’Europe de peuples?
L’Europe de l’austérité qui divise entre Nord et Sud, par quelque frontières virtuelles au long du Rhin, ou avec l’Europe de la cohésion sociale et de la solidarité qui unit tous les peuples ?
C’est ça le dilemme.
Et ce dilemme est symbolisé aujourd’hui en Europe, d’un côté par Mme Merkel et ses soutiens et, de l’autre côté, par SYRIZA et le Parti de la Gauche Européenne. Et quand on arrive à ce dilemme, on ne peut pas être à bord de deux bateaux à la fois. Qui propose de le faire finira dans les eaux.
Notre but est de réunifier l’Europe, cette Europe que le néolibéralisme aujourd’hui divise.
Unies Toutes les forces de la Gauche partout Parce que ce qui compte pour la gauche aujourd’hui c’est tout ce qui unit Et nous, pour réunifier l’Europe, il faut d’abord unir nos forces
Nous l’avons fait en Grèce grâce à SYRIZA. Et cette unité a créé une, inattendue même pour nous, dynamique sociale et politique, autosuffisante et forte
Nous pouvons, tous et toutes ensemble, changer l’Europe. Nous pouvons travailler pour une Europe démocratique, sociale et écologique.
Avec des priorités:
L’arrêt immédiat de l’austérité et l’annulation des memoranda. Pour arrêter la redistribution la plus violente des revenus, de la richesse et du pouvoir, contre le monde du travail et en faveur du capital.
La refondation démocratique de la zone euro. Afin que la Banque Centrale Européenne devienne un véritable banque centrale, à savoir, un créancier de dernier ressort pas seulement pour les banques mais aussi pour les Etats.
Une Conférence Européenne sur la Dette. Pour une solution collective et solidaire au surdettement dans la zone euro.
Un «New Deal» européen. Pour le développement équilibré et durable du Continent
La transformation écologique de la production
La réforme du «cadre» européen sur l’immigration
Chers amis, Chers camarades
Permettez-moi d’avouer quelque chose que je crois profondément. Si le gouvernement de François Hollande était différent, toute l’Europe aujourd’hui serait différente.
Mais, au lieu d’être le contrepoids et l’obstacle face au néolibéralisme et «l’Europe allemande», le gouvernement Hollande fonctionne comme le multiplicateur politique du gouvernement Merkel. Et comme défenseur de la politique la plus à droite que l’Europe n'ait jamais subi. Parce que dans la photo de famille de la droite Européenne, plus à droite de Madame Thatcher se trouve Madame Merkel. Et encore plus à droite est Mr. Scheuble.
Ça fait seulement quelques jours que François Hollande lui-même a annoncé des coupes budgétaires de 50 milliards d’euros pour la période 2015 - 2017 C’est-à-dire, austérité qui conduira à la récession, et réduira la - déjà faible - croissance de la France.
Et, puisque l’économie française a un poids spécial en Europe L’austérité de Mr. Hollande est, pour tous nous dans la zone euro, encore une poussée dans la récession.
Est-il possible que Mr Hollande n’ait rien entendu du débat international sur l’échec de l’austérité en Grèce ?
Il ne voit pas que, la seule chose que l’austérité arrive à faire, est d’approfondir la crise économique en nourrissant la récession ? Et de créer, en même temps un problème de Démocratie ?
Parce que du chômage, de la pauvreté et de la difficulté à survivre surviennent la peur et le désespoir Et, malheureusement, ouvrent les oreilles de plus en plus de personnes au discours politique étroit et diviseur de l’extrême droite populiste . De l’extrême droite populiste, qui ne représente pas une solution mais, au contraire, est un plus grand danger encore pour les peuples de l’Europe. Avec un programme politique tellement intolérant qui se limite à l’immigration et au recul de l’intégration de la démocratie dans l’Union Européenne. Qui dirige la peur générale de la crise vers «l’autre», vers l’étranger, vers le frère. Les fascistes et les racistes, qui cherchent les votes de ces parties de la population touchées fortement par l’austérité, prétendent que l’immigration est une dimension cruciale de la crise. Faisant ainsi innocente l’austérité néolibérale Car, dans tous les autres champs, l’extrême droite est entièrement néolibérale. Et c’est pour ça que son fonctionnement politique est celui de la force en réserve tactique du néolibéralisme C’est un rôle qui, en Grèce, a été prouvé.
Avec l’organisation neo-nazie “Aube Dorée” qui prétend d’être une force anti système, alors qu'elle est en réalité le bras armé du système. C’est pour cette raison là que, à part Mme Merkel, Mme Lepen doit se féliciter de l’austérité imposée par Mr. Hollande. Car ça lui offre le carburant dont elle a besoin pour répandre son obscurité partout en Europe. Le 25 mai, le vrai dilemme est très clair:
D’un côté, les dirigeants politiques de la crise Ceux qui appliquent le consensus néolibéral La politique de la peur, de la récession et du recul de la Démocratie en Europe La droite, ensemble avec les socio-démocrates de Mr. Hollande et de Mr. Schulz
Et de l’autre côté, les peuples d’Europe Qui, indépendamment de leur origine idéologique ou leur préférence partidaire, chacun et chacune, nous regardent : La Gauche Européenne de l’espoir et du changement
Et c’est pour cette raison que nous adressons à chaque citoyen actif, chaque démocrate, progressiste, de gauche, social-démocrate et socialiste Pour participer aux élections Pour voter Parce que si ils ne votent pas, autres vont voter à leur place Parce que ce sont les simples mathématiques de l’urne Voter avec son esprit et avec son cœur.
La Gauche européenne est la seule force crédible de pouvoir alternative au néolibéralisme des conservateurs et de la social-démocratie. Venez avec nous pour remplacer la peur par l’espoir Venez avec nous pour reconstruire l’Europe de la démocratie et des droits humains
Amis et camarades,
Aujourd’hui Avec votre présence combative Vous avez donné de l’espoir au changement Vous avez donné de la force à la démocratie Vous avez donné de la perspective à la Gauche Européenne Le 25 Mai nous serons la surprise heureuse et positive
Nous serons haut pour lever aussi haut le drapeau de la Démocratie en Europe
I am here, along with you, to remind the peoples of Europe.
That Europe is at a critical crossroads.
And there are two ways to go.
The alternatives are clear:
Either we stand still.
Or we move forward.
Either we consent to the neoliberal status quo.
And pretend that the crisis can be resolved with the policies that have recycled it.
Or we march into the future with the European Left.
Because peoples of Europe are in danger , democracy itself is in danger.
Neoliberalism is a threat to the peoples of Europe.
The extreme right is a danger to democracy.
And the only alternative is the resistance of the peoples and the strengthening of the European Left
Dear comrades in the years of the crisis unfortunately we have been vindicated.
It was us – the European Left – that even before Eurozone actually came into life we were pointing out the flaws, the deficiencies, and the destabilizing asymmetries of the project.
We have been saying and proven right, that there can be no monetary union divided by a wall of money.
We have been saying and proven right, that a monetary union, indifferent to society and responsive only to the needs of finance capital, is a Eurozone prone to uncertainty, instability and crisis – a Eurozone with a short deadline.
We have been saying and proven right, that no monetary union can function without a central bank, acting as such.
That is, acting as lender of last resort for member-states and not only for member-banks.
We have been saying and proven right, that Europe needs its own Glass-Steagall Act, to separate commercial and investment banking activities and prevent such a dangerous merge of risks into one uncontrolled entity.
We have been saying and proven right, that Europe needs effective European legislation to tax offshore economic and entrepreneurial activities.
We have been saying and proven right that the European political establishment saw the debt crisis as an opportunity to rewrite Europe’s postwar political economy.
It is for that reason that they reject our proposal for a European Debt Conference, modelled on the London Debt Conference in 1953, to give a definite and viable collective solution to the problem.
It is for that reason that the European political establishment – a voluntary hostage to Ms Merkel – insists to impose on the entire Eurozone South policies that have deteriorated the initial problem.
We have been saying and proven right, that Europe needs a “New Deal” to fight unemployment and to finance its future.
We have been saying and proven right, that if Europe is to survive it needs redistribution and solidarity.
Those are the foundations of the totally new Europe that we are fighting for.
In the place of a Europe that redistributes income to the rich and fear to the poor.
Day by day, the so-called Memoranda are proven to be detailed guides to poverty and economic control by the lenders.
In Greece, the Memorandum has caused a humanitarian crisis – unprecedented in the postwar years.
It is a stain to European civilization that:
◾Two million Greeks cannot cover their basic needs, such as meal with meat and adequate heating. ◾A little girl died, recently in Thessaloniki, because her family couldn’t afford electricity and were using a brazier for heating. ◾It is an everyday picture in Athens and the main cities of Greece, well-dressed men and women, looking for food in the garbage cans.
Comrades and Friends,
A monetary union which divides its member-states, divides the societies of its member-states, increases unemployment, poverty and social polarization would either be reconstructed or collapse.
Reconstruction means change.
And change for Europe is now more than a mature demand.
It is an existential question.
The process of change has started in Greece.
SYRIZA is a step away from coming to power.
But 2014 is an election year.
And change will come.
The SYRIZA government will inspire change in Europe.
We count on each and everyone of you.
We count on the solidarity of the peoples of Europe in the first difficult steps of our government.
This is why, we need the Left to grow stronger and become a decisive force for the future of Europe.
Because with the SYRIZA government, Greece will abandon austerity and put on the table a viable plan for the Greek economy, but most of all, a viable plan for Europe as a whole.
With the active solidarity of a broad European anti-austerity movement, we shall win that fight.
Because, for the European Left to grow and influence in a decisive way the everyday lives of ordinary people, it needs the broadest possible social and political alliances.
Dear Comrades and Friends,
I heard yesterday Pierre’s warm words for my candidacy on behalf of each and all of you – on behalf of the European Left – for the Presidency of the European Commission.
I thank him from my heart.
But, more than a candidacy, it is mandate for hope and change in Europe.
It is a roll call for Democracy, in which every generation deserves to participate, which every generation is entitled to live.
The European election next May provides a historic opportunity for the peoples of Europe to make change possible.
To reject those who are recycling a world crisis in Europe.
And, against common logic, insist that a recipe that has failed is a recipe to be continued.
And, allow me to repeat:
The European Left is the alternative to neoliberalism.
Comrades and Friends.
This is our time.
When the wheel of History turns back, it is the Left’s moment to move Europe forward.
