Austerity has failed Greece and its people – just as it is failing people here 

In our country austerity is imposed by an elected government. In Greece, however, a government was elected to try a different way out of the crisis. But the will of the people is being thwarted by a troika of largely unelected institutions: the IMF, The European Council and the European Bank.

Austerity is endangering the social fabric in Greece and it is not working to reduce the deficit because the actual debt has increased from 120% of the GDP to 180%.

Most gravely, Greek unemployment has reached 28% (60% for young people), and average income decreased by 40%. These levels are unsustainable which are unsustainable  will mean that even with the best will, the debt levels which their government has to deal with cannot be resolved.

In a most serious intervention the Greek PM this week in an article in Le Monde set out the implications of the actions of the Troika. He wrote: ‘The lack of an agreement so far is not due to the supposed intransigent, uncompromising and incomprehensible Greek stance.

It is due to the insistence of certain institutional actors on submitting absurd proposals and displaying a total indifference to the recent democratic choice of the Greek people, despite the public admission of the three Institutions that necessary flexibility will be provided in order to respect the popular verdict.’.

As the Greek fight against austerity unfolds it is clear that the forces of neo-liberalism are a unified and rigid block which will be hard to overcome.

Prime Minister Tsipras argues that there are leading agencies in Europe now who would create ‘a technocratic monstrosity that will lead to a Europe entirely alien to its founding principles.’ And the ‘complete abolition of democracy in Europe’.

That’s why today I support a number of European parliamentarians who have called for action on 20-26^th June 2015.

Solidarity with the people of Greece is the only way we will change direction on austerity. It is also the only way to fight the attack on working people across Europe.

We cannot know yet how the current negotiations will turn out but it seems that The IMF, EC and ECB are trying to destroy employment rights across Europe. This is why the International Trade Union Confederation is calling for an end to the attacks against wages and pensions in Greece.

Attacks on workers’ rights in the UK over the past 30 years has led to an explosion in low paid and insecure jobs; we cannot allow this to continue.

There is a referendum in the UK on our membership of the European Union which is our chance to make the case against the move to institutional, non democratic governance,  austerity and against the neo-liberalism of European institutions. It is also a chance to discuss what a new, social and just Europe might look like.