Ten years after the Maastricht Treaty the EU is preparing at the meeting in Nice, under the French presidency for a new stage: a European
superpower.
Over these ten years the EU has shown the extent to which it is an anti-social and antidemocratic
contrustuction, a war machine against the working and popular classes of Europe and the world.
The EU desperately continues to lack popular support and political legitimacy. The Danish
no is the latest example of this. The recent European wide struggles against the neo-liberal policy of the EU and the growing resistance against the
impact of capitalist globalisation, embodied by the IMF and the World Bank. The responsibility of this reactionary offensive lies with the national governments of
the member states. The Social-Democratic parties, supported by some Communist parties and Greens in government (France, Germany, Italy), have applied these
neo-liberal policies even more efficiently than the conservative bourgeois parties. A large part of the European trade union movement has backed them in doing this.
The EFTU, instead of developing militant trade union activity, has aligned itself with the EC in the name of lesser evilism.
We anti-capitalist parties and movements in Europe struggle against the EUs institutions
and policies. We struggle in favour of another Europe social, democratic, peaceful and based on workers solidarity a democratic socialist
society. We struggle for a radical change of policy ; perspective and society. We struggle to stop immediately the autocratic machinery of the Council of Ministers
and the permanent Intergovernmental Conference.
Nice opens a new stage in the history of the EU that openly shows its imperialist ambitions,
defending, as they say, "its interests all over the world ”. The conclusions drawn by the governments of the EU from the Balkan wars will be put into
practice.
First, they are creating a European armed force, which will intervene as part of Nato or seperately;
but with its priority being to stabilise and hegemonise its own periphery. This policy of remilitarisation can only succeed if it is combined with a Euro-
militarist ideological offensive. We will fight against the rise of the EUs military power as we have previously fought against the militarism of Nato
and our own governments.
Second, the Nice summit aims to carry through the economic conquest of Eastern Europe,
imposing the neo-liberal rules of the EU upon these countries (the so-called acquis communitaire). For us Europe goes well beyond the EU. We are in
favour of voluntarily uniting our continent, but through working class solidarity and co-operation. We propose a joint struggle against the actual policies and
institutions of the EU. We are in favour of the free movement of people and are in favour of open immigration into the EU and of their right to full citizenship.
Third , European governments are playing a vanguard role in the WTO in growing inter-imperialist
competition with the US and Japan (and some countries of the Third World). The EU governments want to reform the Treaty (Article 133) and give a free hand to
the Commission. It is clear that our struggle against the EU is part of the rising struggle against the impacts of capitalist globalisation, especially following the Seattle
mobilisation, and in favour of internationalist solidarity with all the oppressed and exploited people in the world.
Fourth; the reform of the EU institutions (the enlargement of qualified majority voting instead of
the right of veto; a smaller Commission; reweighting of the countries in the Council of Ministers and giving more voting rights to the big three of Germany, France
and Britain; the freer use of enhanced co-operation between some governments in some fields) paves the way for a cabinet of
Germany, France and Britain and a much stronger executive leadership. This is the indispensible tool to lead this imperialist Europe in the coming economic,
political and military battles on a world scale. We reject this anti-democratic reform as it strengthens the executive power in the EU.
Fifth; the proposed Charter of Fundamental Rights is a radical setback to the rights that the labour
movement has won during the past 150 years. The right to work is replaced the freedom to work under any conditions; the right to a decent living
wage and a viable minimum income is replaced by social assistance and philanthropy. The right to strike is not recognised at the European level. This
draft charter is a step backwards from most national and international legislation. This reactionary charter might become European law, taking precedence over
national laws. The EC might have the right to inforce its application. The European Court of Justice would have the sovereign power to judge. This charter will be a
powerful lever for the bosses and governments to undermine the rights of the working classes. We are opposed to the contents of this Charter and, logically, against
its inclusion in the Treaty.
Each of us struggles in our country and all together on a European scale, to reverse this neo-liberal
policy, in favour of the principle: social needs before profit. This means: the right to a stable and full-time job for everyone; a decent living wage and state pension
(unemployment and sickness benefit), healthcare, housing, education and professional training. This will require: the redevelopment of the public sector and the
reorganisation of state budgets, a massive redistribution of wealth from capital to labour and all the necessary anti-capitalist measures to change private property into
social property.