Aleka Papariga on the decisions of the EU as regards Greece

On Sunday March 28 the General Secretary of the CC of KKE, Aleka Papariga, delivered a speech ιn a mass event organised by the Party Organisation of Piraeus and the city organisation of KNE.

Among others A. Papariga noted:

“The decision of the European Union has been considered as a great victory of Greece and of the prime minister. Namely the formation of a European mechanism jointly with the International Monetary Fund as well as the intervention of the European Central Bank (…)

But what kind of decisions did the European Union take? First of all, it has been confirmed that the capitalist crisis is deep, global and highlights the great rivalries and contradictions between the powerful capitalist countries and the regional unions. The Europeans are not only interested in the crisis in Europe. They also keep up with the developments in the global market. Today, it’s not just the classic imperialist centres that compete with each other, namely the European Union, Japan and the US. Today there are new imperialist forces, new regional forces that claim a slice of the worldwide capitalist pie.

Thus the European Union took a decision that one could say it has a temporary and short-sighted character, but even if it works out it will only be effective to some extent because the imperialist system, or rather capitalism in its imperialist stage, cannot face drastically and effectively its contradictions and contrasts.

What decision did they take? They created a political mechanism that works like that: If a country in the eurozone is in a very difficult position, if it violates the rules of the game and it cannot do otherwise because it’s on the eve of bankruptcy, then the EU member states will have another meeting so as to decide whether this country is in real need and actually faces the risk of bankruptcy as well as the conditions of their support, funding and lending; they may even decide if this country will remain in the eurozone. Any decision has to be taken unanimously. So you understand that not even the capitalist countries can reach a common decision and that there cannot be full solidarity between the capitalist states, between the bourgeoisie of the member states. However, this political mechanism has a specific orientation. Regardless of whether the funding mechanism will be enforced and of the discussion on whether a country will remain in the eurozone, its orientation is specific: the political blackmail to make the bourgeois states, the bourgeois governments to comply on at least one issue with the rules of the EU market, with the global capitalist rules: to make the labour force, which is a commodity in capitalism, even cheaper so as to further steal and suppress the people.”

Aleka Papariga stressed that the workers should draw political conclusions and realise that what is required nowadays in not just a change of government but a change of the character of the power.