Il sito della Sinistra Europea riporta una breve nota sull'incontro organizzato a Lisbona ai primi di febbraio in occasione del Congresso del "Bloco de Esquerda" portoghese, partito membro dell'SE.
Juntar forças
Under the slogan "Uniting Forces" the Left Bloc of Portugal invited the member and observer parties of the European Left as well as other left parties to the conference titled “New crisis of an old system: Left proposals for Europe”, which was held on the eve of Bloco de Esquerda's party congress in Lisbon on 6 February 2009.
With the aim to exchange national experiences and discuss proposals to overcome the economic crisis, the representatives of the political forces went further in pointing out alternatives to the neo-liberal system and the need to implement policies of change on an international level.
The analysis of the current crisis and its effects in the different European countries revealed that we are not in front of a financial or economic crisis; eventually this is a structural crisis that entails food, energy, and ecological crises, and which affects the basis of market economy, i.e. the accumulation of capital.
The dimension of this crisis is becoming more and more dramatic: the closure of factories, dismissal of thousands of workers and the creation of social insecurity are the main consequences to be seen all over Europe and worldwide. Face to this situation, which affects workers, migrants, women, and young people in particular, it is essential for the Left to explain the failures of capitalism and to come up with new perspectives in order to arrest the social decline, and the “war amongst the poor”.
The workers must not pay for this crisis, as stated by Francisco Louçã of Bloco de Esquerda in his opening speech. At the same time, it is important to act from the bottom to the top and re-unify the workers, who have been divided by social dumping, delocalisation and xenophobic propaganda of right-wings extremists.
EL chairman Lothar Bisky remarked that the measures taken until now are insufficient, and a concerted European answer to the crisis is still lacking. The European Left demands concrete measures in favour of employment and social protection, such as increasing wages, social benefits and pensions for the workers in Europe. A re-regulation of the markets, taxes on financial transaction, the democratic control of the European Central Bank, and the replacement of the stability pact by a new pact in favour of growth, full employment and ecological protection are essential steps.
A resolution concerning the crisis was adopted by the European Left at the electoral conference in November 2008, and can be found HERE.
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