Greek debt negotiations prove Eurozone is a ‘neoliberal disciplining device’, say Greens
23 June 2015
A Green Party MEP has released a message of solidarity with the people of Greece as negotiations over the country’s bailout reach the final stages. Molly Scott Cato, MEP for the South West, calls for the people of Europe to “resist the attacks” on their democratic and social rights and describes the Eurozone as a “neoliberal disciplining device”.
Speaking at a rally in Trafalgar Square this evening (23 June), Romayne Phoenix, Deputy Chair of the Green Party’s national executive and a founder member of the Greece Solidarity Campaign, will relay Cato’s message to the public.
The message says:
“We are watching Greece with great compassion as we see the suffering of the people who are the victims of financial markets and not the authors of their own fate. We are appalled by the suggestion that the pensioners should see their incomes cut and the poor should face paying more for energy just so that distant creditors can benefit.
“We applaud the decision of the Greek people to vote for a positive alternative to the politics of austerity and we support their right to democratic self-determination.
“In the months since the Greek election the negotiations have made clear that the Eurozone is actually a neoliberal disciplining device. The clarity of will of the Greek people has made this explicit. We are all suffering attacks on our democratic and social rights because of the neoliberal ideology but Greece is the most extreme example. We need to stand in solidarity and resist the attacks on these rights we have taken for granted for 70 years.
“[Greens] recognise that a restructuring is now inevitable'. Greece cannot pay its debts and a restructuring and debt forgiveness, based on the legal principle recognising some of the debt as 'odious' is urgently necessary.
“What happens in Greece is of vital importance to Europe and the world because democracy is being tested. If the EU challenges the democratic will of the people in order to allow the greed for wealth and power of financiers and corporations to prevail this represents a serious threat to the very principle of democracy.”
Phoenix will speak at the International People’s Assembly’s Solidarity with Greece rally tonight from 6.30pm in Trafalgar Square.
paul mackney of Greece Solidarity Campaign
speaker from -Sinistra Ecologia Liberta
speaker from Syriza
Sylvain Reivas of Front de Gauche
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