C. Martins, President of the left Bloc in Portugal: Neo-liberals hate democracy. She intervenes in the political-cultural event of Kosmos in Berlin.
The President of the Bloco de Esquerda in Portugal, Catarina Martins, stated, in the political-cultural event of Kosmos in Berlin, the difficulties faced by her country, whose workers are victims, as well as German workers, of neo-liberal policies of the European Union.
Catarina Martins calls to restructure the public debt
She explained that the austerity created an economic crisis to lower wages and press to decrease them in the rest of the countries.
And she made it clear that it’s not the Portuguese workers who pressure towards the lowering of salaries of Germans workers, but that “it is the financial capital that needs to lower the wages in order to win benefits”.
The leader of the Bloco charged against the European institutions, the Treaties and the rules of removing power from the Parliaments to give it to institutions which nobody elected.
Neo-liberals hate democracy because for them the popular sovereignty and democracy is an obstacle to the European neoliberal project.
And therefore they also are afraid of the rights and the organization of the workers.
To illustrate it, she explained that during the 5 years in which the austerity was imposed in Portugal, with cuts in wages and pensions, with the privatization of companies and public sectors and with the deregulation of the labour market.
These measures were not able to solve either the public debt or the bank problems.
When the unemployment was growing and the young people was emigrating as had not happened since the dictatorship time.
That was the reason that the European institutions and the German government were giving Portugal as a good example to follow.
And when in 2015 a government was formed which was supported by the left which stopped privatizations, slightly recovered pensions and salaries, began to fight poverty, created some work and recovered the economy a bit.
That was the reason that the European institutions started to say that Portugal is a problem.
Catarina Martins called for the restructuring of the public debt, which threatens Portugal, but also Spain, Italy and Greece.
She said that the debt will continue to grow meanwhile it carries on postponing its restructuring.
Also the public debt “had been created to save the banks” and that it was the perfect excuse to impose:
a rapid process of privatization, liberations and deregulation, weakening of the welfare state, attack to the labour law, and precariousness.
The President of Bloco concluded by saying that we do not have to choose between the neo-liberals and the far right.
We can opt to regain democracy and the rights of workers and the left has to give a response out of solidarity, with hope and without fear because there is a new world to build.
Source: European Left
