On the campaign trail - Italy
- Published on Sunday, 06 April 2014 20:20
Alexis Tsipras on Chanel Rai 3: We want to change the political balance of power in Europe with the Euro-Elections
“With these Euro-elections, we want to change the political balance of power in Europe” declared the leader of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras, in an interview on Chanel Rai 3, the Italian public television chanel on the show “In mezz'ora” hosted by the journalist Loutsia Anountsiata.
Excerpts from an interview with Alexis Tsipras by the Italian Chanel RAI3:
I am well aware that in order for us to successfully make a major political change in Greece, and for that change to have positive results, we must change the political balance of power throughout all of Europe. We cannot achieve political change in just one country if the political balance of power in Europe is such that it does not accept this political change. As a result, the political party “The Other Europe with Tsipras” in Italy marks the widespread conviction of all the political forces that want a major political change in Europe, to change the political balance of power in the Euro-elections. In these elections, we are not only voting to elect some members of the European Parliament. In these elections, we are voting for our life. Our life depends on the balance of power in the European parliament. Our life depends upon the decisions that are made behind closed doors, for us. And we must create that balance of power. For the first time, European citizens in Greece, in Italy, in Portugal, in Spain, in all of Europe, hold their destiny in their own hands. We must not miss this opportunity. And I think that we must find our own answers. Austerity policy, the policy which destroys social cohesion, the policy which erodes democracy, is a policy which is leading Europe and the European people to a dead-end. The time has come to put an end to this policy.
I think that what has been happening over the past few months in Italy is really exciting. In fact, it is a big surprise. Two months ago, a small group of people began this project, which was quite daring on our part. Today, we have in fact become a large group. We have managed to gather over 150,000 signatures, which was the minimum requirement of, in my opinion, an unfair law which is in force in your country. Despite this, we overcame this stumbling block and we can see that the messages are very positive and that the “Other Europe” will be the surprise of the Euro-elections in Italy. Such a goal was not at all easy to achieve and did not appear very likely when we began this effort. And I would like to say that this exciting journey indicates that at this time, in these days, throughout all of this period, in Italy the citizens’ movements, the social Left, new forces which have emerged from this effort, contributed to a revolution of unity and unselfishness. This is how I would like to describe the effort. It was born out of a new Left, which is represented by young people, by grassroots movements. Of course it has a long tradition, which it brings with it, but it is creating a new identity. And this is the new identity that we want, a Left that has an alternative opinion about Europe, that is not satisfied with protest and that wants to govern in order to change the lives and the daily lives of millions of people who are suffering from this policy of strict austerity, from this barbaric policy that is destroying society.
I think that at this time in Europe, in the Euro-elections, there are three blocs of power. One bloc is dominant and within it the European right (EPP) and European social democrats (S&D) are working toward the same direction, despite their differences. I am not saying that they are the same, however their joint bottom line, is that they have no other choice than to implement this policy, this policy of austerity and of the erosion of democracy.
The second bloc is that of the populist right, which wants to destroy Europe. It wants to return to the nation state and in reality, it does not deal with the major problem of the economic policy of austerity, but instead blames the immigrants and the weaker members of society.
The third bloc is the one that we want to create, the bloc for a different Europe. We want to change Europe, we do not want to destroy it. And we believe that we are more Euro-friendly than the dominant forces today, which in fact are indifferent as to whether this Europe reaches a dead-end and is destroyed.
The new Prime Minister of Italy, whom I have been observing with great interest, has demonstrated a kind of activity, primarily in promoting different types of policies with regard to taxation. However, at its core, at the neo-liberal core of the policy that is being implemented today, which has to do with labor relations and the welfare state, it appears to be adopting a hard line neo-liberal point of view. I believe that this cannot be the answer to the hegemony of Chancellor Merkel, a policy that is even more right wing than that which is implemented by Merkel. The real answer to the hegemony of Chancellor Merkel is to return to the founding principles of Europe, to a Europe of the people, with social cohesion, solidarity and democracy. Our future, our prospects, cannot be unemployment rates like those that we now have in Greece (of 30% overall and 60% among the youth), the huge segment of uninsured workers, or insistence on laws that destroy the rights of labor today in Europe and that lead us to uncertainty, to part time work. We saw the results of these choices during the Tony Blair period in Great Britain. The so-called “Third Way” led nowhere. The reduction of labor costs does not help to make the economy more competitive. If this were so, the most competitive economy in the world would be Bangladesh. However, this is not the case. We must return to the basic principles that define the European Union, which are solidarity, democracy and social cohesion. And in order to do so, we need broad social alliances and great success of our proposal so as to draw the social democrats back to their historical course. They are now being transformed into neo-liberals. We must pull them away from the neo-liberal path that they have currently chosen.
We believe that Europe is the battle field of political and class struggle. For us, Europe has no geographical borders, but it has social borders and we want to transcend these. Two years ago, it was with great interest that we observed the great electoral victory of the Bebe Grillo movement. And we felt very positive about it because it was the outcome of the frustration of the Italian people. However, frustration and rage are not sufficient, it is also necessary to have an alternative proposal. And primarily, today one must see that this alternative proposal cannot be contained by national borders. We are living in a United Europe, decisions are made – which may be good or bad – in the European Parliament – and even worse, in the Summit Meetings of leaders who ignore the democracy of the European Parliament. If we wish therefore, to change something in our own lives, we must fight for this within Europe. I have the feeling that Bebe Grillo ignores this fact, he pretends not to understand it. He is indifferent to the future of Europe. To the question of “which Europe, alliances with whom?”, we answer “the Europe of solidarity with alliances wherever the progressive forces and the Left overcome the conservative and neo-liberal forces. To that same question, Bebe Grilo might well answer “I don’t care, let it be whoever wants these alliances, I will change the reality in Italy”. Unfortunately, things are not so simple; you cannot change things in only one country.
It is for this reason what we are doing in Italy is even more symbolic, even more important. I believe that tomorrow, when SYRIZA governs in Greece, since SYRIZA will be the government in Greece, the first thing that we will attempt will be a broader alliance of social and political forces in Europe and in Southern Europe. And then, for us to succeed in Greece, we will need an agreement, the consent and the social support from Italy, Spain and Portugal in order to escape collectively from this dead-end of austerity. We need a broad alliance against the alliance of capital, and the alliance of the bankers who take decisions that make our lives more and more sad.
When the newspaper Der Spiegel characterized me as the most dangerous person in Europe, it was an honor because in reality, this confirmed that our political proposal is extremely dangerous for the political plan that is being implemented today in Europe, a plan that wants to create in the European periphery, an economic zone of poverty with salaries of 300-400 Euros, a zone of flexible work, unemployment and insecurity. It is with regard to this plan that we want to be dangerous, we want to destroy this plan. Indeed, it is a title of honor to be called dangerous with regard to the plan of the bankers, of large capital and the plan of the EU to be transformed into the German Union. I believe that the most dangerous politician in Europe today for the people, not for the banks, is Chancellor Merkel. And we must realize that right now in Europe, two points of view, two powers are juxtaposed. Those powers that make up the European Popular Right headed by Chancellor Merkel, either assist in her in her plan – and Mr. Renzi assists in this plan when he agrees that we must go along with the line of fiscal stability, of austerity – and on the other side is our own alternative plan. This is why we are calling on the Italians and the Greeks, and all the Europeans to decide about the dilemma of the Euro-elections: Has this policy of Chancellor Merkel succeeded today? If it has succeeded, let us vote for Juncker and Schulz. Let us vote in Italy for the list of Renzi or the list of the Italian right. If however, it has not succeeded, then we must vote and support the alternative proposal. And the alternative proposal is the “Other Europe” which is supported by the forces of the real Left.
The authoritarian reforms of Mr. Renzi go well with the main choices of the EU and the European elite. These authoritarian choices are not only being made in Italy. These are choices which we have experienced in Greece over the past four years. There will be a terrifying social leveling, with the memorandum of austerity, of which the first victim was democracy itself. Our constitutions, which were adopted through processes that brought the people to the forefront, are democratic constitutions that protect society, the people. And those constitutions constitute obstacles to the counter-reforms that are now being promoted by the neo-liberal forces in Europe. In this regard, I think that we must support the basic founding principles of both the European Union as well as the basic constitutional principles. Therefore we must promote social and political rights and democracy. And I believe that under different circumstances this should not just be the work of the Left. For this reason, in this electoral battle, we not only call upon the Left to vote for us, but also the millions of citizens who feel that they are being crushed by these choices, either at an economic level, or at the level of political rights and freedoms.
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