Only a few days after the fiesta of the European People’s Party in Dublin, which "celebrated" both the affirmation of austerity and the political proposals of the European Right, including the cynical jokes made by Bono, the European Left gives its own response today.
Dublin City University and the network transform!europe are organizing a conference at “the site of the crime”, so to speak, under the title ‘Challenging the Rule of Troika, Transforming Europe’ with the main object of investigating the social and economic implications from the policies of austerity in the European periphery countries.
And although the conference is taking place under the auspices of an academic institution, however, its tone will no doubt be intensely political since many significant political and intellectual personalities of the European left have been invited and will be attending. Speakers in the conference include Protuguese Bloco de Esquerda MP Mariana Montagua and MEP Marisa Matias and Vice President of the the Party of the European Left, Irish Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy, Mary Lou McDonald Sinn Fein TD, while attending from Greece will be Euclid Tsakalotos, SYRIZA MP, Haris Golemis Director of Nikos Poulantzas Institute, and Maria Karamessini economist.
The main event in the conference, however, will be the keynote speech by Alexis Tsipras, who is going to present the Left’s alternative proposals for Europe, contrasting it with the neo-liberal policies of of Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker-- supported for the European Commission presidency by the Samaras government as well —and Martin Schulz, the candidate of the PES. By charting out the developing political environment, Alexis Tsipras is expected to talk about the left’s alternative for the re-foundation of Europe, as opposed to a European ‘dark continent’ of rising ultra-right euro-skepticism.
Unlike Samaras’ appearance three days ago, who begged for a political arrangement that will buy himself additional political time in Greece, Alexis Tsipras will appear as the candidate who expresses the true force opposing Merkel and her German fortress Europe that is founded on a periphery of over-indebted countries.
According to leaks from SYRIZA HQ, Alexis Tsipras will be deconstructing the Irish “success story”, presenting the figures concerning debt and immigration, which are haunting this European country currently, as high unemployment is doing in Greece, but will also address the nature of the characteristics of production of both countries’ economies which are being destroyed.
Alexis Tsipras will be asking European citizens and his fellow candidates and opponents: Have the memoranda failed, throughout Europe, or have they succeeded? Do we want a Europe of austerity, poverty, rising nationalism, far-right parties and neo-Nazism? Or the Europe of the Enlightenment, the Europe of human rights, of solidarity and democracy?
Dublin is Alexis Tsipras’ sixth destination stop in his campaign around Europe, having been received warmly everywhere he has spoken so far. According to a recent pan-European poll, the Party of the European Left appears to be doubling its strength and to be in a position to claim third place in the number of seats in the European parliament.
Translated from www.avgi.gr
