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France, Portugal, Spain, Uncategorized

Brexit – Reactions from Europe’s radical Left

French communists

British citizens have just voted to 51.9% out of the European Union. It is a new shock revealing the magnitude of the popular rejection against the neoliberal EU. The time has come to rebuild the EU, to build a Union of peoples and of free nations, sovereign and partners, for human progress and social justice. The new Union, and new treaties must be built under the supervision of the European peoples.

The repeated denial of this requirement, from the 2005 referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty up to the financial coup d’etat against Greece, has led Europe to a neo-liberal hard-line and given promoted the far right.

David Cameron’s strategy and the agreement with the European Commission targeting immigrant populations have released the most xenophobic forces in the UK. Even in his party, Cameron has been caught in his own game. For the British working classes, the change of government in the autumn will represent a further lurch to the right, meaning more austerity, more submission to markets, more tension and racism in society.

We reject the false dilemma imposed by the proponents of austerity, between the depression in the social crisis and authoritarianism, or dislocation amid nationalist rivalries. There is another option, that of recovery of the European project led by the left. In the crucial battle for the future of all, we must engage against the libertarian right of Boris Johnson allied with the far right of Marine Le Pen and, with an alliance of all left forces and progress that reject use austerity.

Our eyes are on Spain; Sunday’s [general election] result could release new hope in the progressive camp. The French Communists will more than ever alongside the people, and the Left in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in the complex and volatile period ahead. With our allies, we will work tirelessly to build a social, economic and ecological Europe, respectful of national sovereignty.

The presidential and legislative campaign in 2017 should be the occasion for a major public debate on the policy of France in Europe. There is nothing to expect from Hollande and Sarkozy wo were the architects of Europe austéritaire. The issue of political change within the Left in a large country like ours is ever more urgent. The PCF intends to contribute now, building a pact of mutual commitments that contains a concrete and combative policy for a government of France, which is prepared for the fight on the European stage.

Pierre Laurent, national secretary of the PCF, President of PGE

http://www.pcf.fr/89519

Izquierda Unida – Spain

IU believes the Brexit results from an EU that does not respond to the needs of the popular classes and calls for Europe to be rebuilt

The head of International and spokesman for the United Left in the European Parliament, Marina Albiol, said Friday that the British support off UK of the European Union is “fruit of the austerity  policies imposed from Brussels and Berlin” and he called “to build a new model of integration that puts the popular classes at the centre of decisions. ”

This, he said, “is essential to shut down the poverty-making machine that the EU has become” but also “to stop the extreme right growing strong due to an anti-democratic EU that offers no future for most people.”

“It is the failure of the EU of Merkel, Rajoy, Cameron, Hollande and Juncker which feeds the extreme right,” he warned.

“We are in no doubt that one of the components that has motivated Brexit is the neoliberal model of the EU. But the solution is not isolated exits of nationalist hue, fuelling xenophobia,” he said. For  Albiol, Brexit, “is not good news, because it is an exit that does not question the economic model as a whole and that it is driven by right-wing positions.”

In contrast, he added, we want to show the European centres of economic of power that “there is an alternative”. And that alternative should “question the whole architecture of the EU and have as fundamental pillars democracy and social justice”. “The economy must be at the service of the working class,” he said.

The MEP gave as an example the rise of UKIP in the UK or the Front National in France. “There are two monsters that have fed by economic constraints of a European elite that has only thought about its own interests,” he said, while blaming the Social Democratic leaders, liberals and conservatives of the EU for “having adapted their speeches, programs and policies to racist, xenophobic and nationalist groups, not to lose electoral share rather than challenge them. ”

“Rethinking the whole EU model is the only way to end the threat of fascism that every day is more present,” he said. “We must end the EU labour reforms, energy poverty, evictions, an unsupportive and cruel fortress Europe, the EU export of wars and poverty…It is a an issue of human rights, “he added.

Finally, he referred to the elections next Sunday. “In the Spanish State the [Popular Party] and PSOE [Socialists] will take the opportunity to appeal to return to stability and use the discourse of fear against the Unidos Podemos coalition.”

In fact, “we are the only ones who are reliable, who will not bow before the big business and the elite. We will work to weave alliances with workers from across Europe to build a Europe at the service of the needs of the social majority.”

“Brexit shows that stability is impossible with current policies. Stability should not focus on the macroeconomic figures, not the stability of the markets; stability can only be achieved through social justice, not governing according to the risk premium [of debt interest]” has ruled.

Portuguese Communists

The victory of the exit from the European Union in the referendum held in the United Kingdom is an event of tremendous political magnitude for the people of the United Kingdom and also for the peoples of Europe.

It represents a far-reaching change in the process of capitalist integration in Europe and a new threshold of struggle for those who have, for decades, fought against the European Union of big business and the big powers, and for a Europe of the workers and the peoples….

The PCP stresses that the forthcoming European Council of June 28 and 29 must, as of now, lay the foundations for the convening of an inter-governmental summit, with a view to enshrining the reversibility of the Treaties, the immediate suspension of the Fiscal Compact and its repeal, as well as the repeal of the Lisbon Treaty.

In a context in which it is undeniably evident that the European Union does not correspond to the needs of the workers and the peoples, the PCP underscores the necessity of courageously confronting the constraints emanating from the process of European capitalist integration, and at the same time, of embarking on a path of cooperation, based on sovereign States with equal rights.

In particular, the PCP stresses the need and urgency of Portugal preparing to free itself from submission to the Euro, which has brought about so much harm to our country, in order to guarantee rights, jobs, production, development and sovereignty.

Read the full statement:

http://pcp.pt/en/victory-exit-european-union-referendum-held-united-kingdom

Dutch Socialist Party 

The result of the referendum in the United Kingdom demonstrates that the EU cannot continue on the same path, according to SP European affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel, who called the British decision to leave an ‘irreversible change for the European Union’.

The most important lesson to be drawn from this referendum is in Van Bommel’s opinion the fact that, under pressure, negotiation space will open for fundamental transformation of the EU. “The Netherlands should take its example from this and put our demands for such a change on the negotiating table,” he says.

Read on here

https://international.sp.nl/nieuws/2016/06/british-referendum-points-to-need-for-a-different-eu

About revoltingeurope

Writer on Europe's Left, trade union and social movements @tomgilltweets or @revoltingeurope

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