During the Lisbon Treaty debate, I strenuously drew attention to the Growth and Stability Pact element of the Treaty and specifically, the powers with which the EU Commission sought to equip itself in order to re-enforce its neo-liberal agenda in member states providing for savage cuts in public spending and living standards.
We have witnessed in recent weeks the unprecedented public intrusion by the Commission and Chancellor Merkel in particular, who along with the IMF, are demanding such attacks in Greece. Today, a further strengthening of EU powers over eurozone Member State’s budgetary policy are under discussion.
As the Socialist Party warned during the Lisbon debate, if even a mildly progressive government was elected promising to implement policies aimed at protecting pay and public services, it would find itself subjected to an intervention by the EU authorities and right-wing eurozone finance ministers demanding the implementation of their policies instead.
This Fianna Fáil/Green government is far from progressive but rather a willing agent of the capitalist markets. They will welcome the measures under discussion as they will use EU Commission diktats as an alibi when faced with opposition from working people and the unemployed to their policies.
Many working people across Europe will ask themselves what type of democracy we live in when the conditions people face and the policies they desire to maintain and improve their living conditions count for nothing when compared to the demands of the market. The intensification of attacks on working people is bound to fuel major organised opposition and industrial action in the period ahead.
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