Government is more than willing to give up powers to Brussels as part of austerity agenda
Responding to today’s reports that the European Commission proposes the effectively put ‘distressed’ member states into administration Socialist Party/United Left Alliance TD Clare Daly said
Among the most stark of all the anti democratic proposals from the Commission is that mechanisms be put in place that will allow the Commission to force member states to prioritise debt repayments over all other public spending.
Do we need any clearer indication of absolute market rule than a provision that permits an unelected Commission tell an elected government to withhold spending on public services so that bondholders can be paid off.”
The penny is dropping that crisis ridden capitalism is incompatible with democracy. The European Commission is busy executing a counter revolution that places the requirements of the markets ahead of the needs of working people and the unemployed across Europe. They are doing this fearful that individual governments won’t have the fortitude to force through the austerity in the face of an active opposition from their populations.
Joe Higgins TD said:
Naturally the proposal from the Commission presupposes that countries across Europe will always have borrowing requirements. We should pause and consider for a moment that such borrowing requirements arise because of the strike of investment by private capitalists and the undertaxing of private and unearned wealth and assets.
We cannot rely on our governments to stand against this power coup. Indeed our government will attempt to have the Dáil rubber stamp the so called six pack of reforms that were voted through the European Parliament.
Instead working people, the unemployed and youth will have to rely on their own latent strength in numbers and come out in a mass movement of people power to defeat the austerity agenda.
