4. The economy-policy relation within the EU

The growing contradictions within the EU cause a lot of trouble amongst the EU leadership (some of them talk about crisis). Several institutions (Council, Commission, European Parliament) worry about how to promote the EU policies, and mainly about how to prevent the emancipation of the government pressuring movement. Based on those class and inter-imperialist contradictions they try to find different ways to manage the situation, as well as a proper ideological cover (e.g the. “anti-neoliberal” or the “neo-Keynesian” EU version).

It is not the first time that the tension between EU enlargement and deepening is growing, but this time things might be worse. This, however, gives new scope to the efforts to reorganize the worker’s and people’s movement, to loosen the ties of “one-way thinking”. However there must be no underestimation off the new possibilities of manipulation and ideological and political entrapment of the people.

The reactionary nature of the economic procedures of the European capitalist unification is reflected as well in the reactionary nature of its institutions. They are unified in their capitalist class character as to their economic and political procedures, which bear the following main features:

A shrinking of the price of labour, increasing of its exploitation through the overthrow of the slightest employment stability realized by extending the system of hourly wages, by employee leasing from enterprise to enterprise, by using labour force on new even more unfavourable assurance conditions, by having migrants working more cheaply, by unprotected season employment, by the cheaper work of women and children, by extending pension’s age etc.
The policy of privatizations and markets “liberation” (electricity, transport, telecommunication etc.) led to a new wave of expensiveness, of unemployment.

For instance, the Lisbon strategy is being realized since 2000. In those five years there has been an increase in dismissals, unemployment has reached the 9% level ( for women and youngsters it is double), 68 million people have reached the poverty limit (in Greece more than 20% at the moment). The concentration of capital and production and the “liberation” of the markets lead to a further extension of social inequalities, of regional differences within the same country and between the member-states of the EU.

The apparatus for the oppression of people’s movements is reinforced at an all-European level. The “The Hague’s Programme”, that is the functioning of the anti-terrorist doctrine in cooperation with other imperialist centres, particularly with the USA, works into that direction. Within the framework of that doctrine the fight against terrorism is being developed into a fight against “radical ideology”, being defined as the predecessor of “terrorist action”. At the same time the so-called “EU-army” is being reinforced in cooperation with NATO through the creation of rapid deployment forces and at the European level through the promotion of mercenary armies. “Euro-police” sections are being created as well and trans-European police systems of the Schengen-type are being extended, etc.
The reinforcement of anti-communism. The mere fact that countries are accepted as member-states, in which the activity of communist parties and the use of communist symbols has been banned or is persecuted (e.g. the Baltic countries, Hungary etc.) paves the road for the reinforcement of measures against communist action and for assaults on communist parties all over the EU.
The efforts to officially condemn communism and to identify it with fascism multiply at the EU bodies and the Council of Europe. This effort is not only stimulated by ultra-conservative forces, but with the direct or indirect support of social democratic forces too. A typical example for this is the proposal for a resolution submitted to the Council of Europe.

The adaptation of the political system per member-state and at the EU level

In several member-states of the EU laws have been adopted for the functioning of political parties, aiming at a direct state control on the parties referring to financial transparency etc. The fundamental instrument to intervene in the political system of each member-state is founding EU-parties, which as a matter of principle will accept and legalize the capitalist European unification process aiming at incorporating the worker’s and people’s movement in the EU one-way street.
Forces and institutions of the establishment at a state level, but at the European Union level as well, intervene and monitor the orientation of certain reactions caused by the consequences of anti-popular and anti-workers restructuring measures and by the anti-popular consequences of competition at the international capitalist market. There is an effort to utilize the so-called movement against the “neoliberal globalisation” in favour of the interests of certain member-states (for instance France) or of an imperialist centre (EU).

Acts of activism, relatively “spontaneous” reactions are used to prevent a really radical, anti-monopolistic, anti-imperialist mass mobilization, to avert it from becoming a mass movement with a class orientation, an internationalist class oriented coordination of the action of the labour movement and of other social movements (e.g. anti-war, movements of women, students, farmers, self-employed etc.).

e-mail:cpg@int.kke.gr

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4. The economy-policy relation within the EU

About European capitalist unification