A dossier of weekly information published by the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
May 29, 2006
Issue No 185
EUROPEAN SPECIAL ISSUE NUMBER TWO
The appeal of the European Conference in Berlin in February 2006 declared:
"Is it possible to advance on the path toward the free union of
peoples and free nations of Europe without breaking with the European
Union? This is what we propose to discuss freely throughout the world
in a bulletin, with the goal of forming, on this basis, a European Alliance
of Workers and Peoples." The ILC International Bulletin published,
in a special issue, all the debates, contributions of the delegates,
and initiatives of the Berlin Conference.
From Belgium, an appeal of all the delegates who participated in the
European Conference in Berlin states: "There is an urgent need
to continue the struggle which we began together." This appeal,
which analyzes the consequences in Belgium of the policies of the European
Union, invites the delegates to "write a common memorandum exposing
the realities of these policies throughout all Europe." They propose,
in the coming months, a delegation on this basis to the European Commission.
We invite all the delegates and our correspondents to send us their
points of view concerning this proposal.
From France, we are publishing large excerpts from the declaration
adopted by the "delegates to the Second National Convention for
the Reconquest of Democracy -- 706 mayors, elected representatives,
unionists, and political activists from various tendencies -- who met
on May 27 and 28 in Paris." This convention called for a mass national
mobilization in December. A German and Belgian militant to the Berlin
Conference participated. The proposal of the delegates of Belgium was
approved.
From Germany, we are publishing the "Open Letter to the Leaders
and MPs of the SPD," which argues: "The 'reform of federalism'
destroys the bases of democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany.
You have no right to approve it." The German delegates to the Berlin
Conference explained the meaning of this reform during the Berlin conference.
Their Open Letter has already received 600 signatures of workers, activists,
and unionists. They are preparing a delegation to the Parliamentary
Group of the SPD.
From Spain, we are publishing below an appeal concerning the referendum
on the statute of the Catalonia, which will take place on June 18. The
newspaper Informaciones Obreras calls on all to sign this appeal and
participate in the campaign "For the Union of Free Republics of
the Spanish State."
From Montenegro, you will find below an interview with a labor activist
from Serbia-Montenegro concerning the referendum that just took place
in Montenegro.
From Italy, we are publishing an interview with a leader from Turin
of the CGIL. In the wake of the elections on April 9 and 10 that kicked
out Berlusconi and in the wake of the creation of the Romano Prodi government
(which includes ministers from the Christian Democracy, the DS -- ex-PCI
-- and the Party of Communist Refoundation), the interviewee explains
that "the essential trait of the independence of our trade unions
is to defend the interests of the workers."
From Sweden, we have been sent a contribution from a university professor
unionist, who is the president of the Movement of the People Against
the European Union. His contribution, "Swedish Higher Education
Politics - Commercialized Universities under the Governance of the European
Union," continues the discussion begun at the Berlin Conference,
which decided to publish a bulletin of the Liaison Committee of Higher
Education; we have published excerpts of this bulletin in previous issues.
We hope that the information published in this issue will be useful
for you. Please send us your thoughts and contributions.
Subscribe to the ILC International Newsletter! This subscription will
alow you to receive news every week. It is also an important support
which will help this news circulate every week on all continents.
**********************
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
p. 1: Introduction
p. 2 / 3 - France: Appeal of the National Convention for the Reconquest
of Democracy
p. 4 / 5 - Germany: Open Letter to the SPD
p. 6 / 7 - Belgium: Appeal to the delegates of the Berlin Conference
p. 8 - Spain: The referendum of the statute of Catalonia
p. 9 - Italy: Interview with a CGIL leader
p. 10 / 11 - Sweden: Higher Education and the European Union
p. 12 - 13th annual ILC conference in Geneva
Contact:
Informations internationales
Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples,
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis -75010 Paris - France
Tel: (33 1) 48 01 88 28
E.mail: eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com - Site: www.eit-ilc.org
**********************
FRANCE
NATIONAL COMMITTE FOR THE RECONQUEST OF DEMOCRACY
DECLARATION
We, delegates to the Second National Convention for the Reconquest
of Democracy -- 706 mayors, elected representatives, unionists, and
political activists from various tendencies -- met on May 27-28, 2006
in Paris.
We who are profoundly loyal to the method of free discussion, listened
carefully to the 84 delegates who addressed this convention, fully respectful
of all the opinions and plurality of opinions of all present. Our conclusions
and proposals are not ultimatums. We submit them to all who are ready
to discuss them.
On May 29, 2005, the French people said "No"! They said "no"
to the destructive policies dictated by the European Union and "no"
to the permanent undermining of political democracy. One year later,
nobody can deny that the reestablishment of political democracy, in
which social democracy is today inscribed, is an ever-more urgent need.
It is a fact that one year after May 29, the French people, the workers,
the youth, and the representatives are confronted with a situation marked
by the disastrous consequences of the dictates imposed by the European
institutions.
Our convention debated the relationship between political democracy
and social democracy:
-- Ever since the institutions of the Fifth Republic were imposed on
the people in 1958, all the organizations standing for democracy have
denounced the anti-democratic character of these institutions.
In 1969, when General De Gaulle organized a referendum aiming to integrate
the trade unions into a corporatist framework, the trade unions and
political organizations standing for democracy called for a "No"
vote.
Is it necessary to recall that the National Assembly cannot freely
choose its own agendas? Is it necessary to recall that the government
can legislate in the place of the Parliament through issuing ordinances?
Is it necessary to recall that the President of the Republic has the
authority to put all power into his or her hands?
Nobody can deny the anti-democratic nature of the institutions of the
Fifth Republic.
-- Nobody can deny that in addition to these antidemocratic institutions,
we are today faced with the dictates of the IMF, the World Bank, and
the Europe of Maastricht.
Isn´t this why, to take one example, the IMF, in its conclusions
concerning France, saluted, on July 11, 2005, the implementation of
the New Employment Contract (CNE), but expressed its regret that it
would be "limited in its length and range of implementation"
and recommended "integrating all the pre-existing labor contracts
into a single one." This recommendation would reappear through
the form of the First Employment Contract, or CPE (against which millions
and millions of us have fought) and the draft united contract in the
public and private sectors, which is in contradiction with the Labor
Code and the Code of Collective Territories.
-- Is it possible to deny for a single second that the only way to
find a solution for the immense majority is through breaking with the
IMF and the European Union?
The European Central Bank, created by the Maastricht Treaty, imposes
on all sectors the dictates of the international financial markets,
all of which are dominated by the United States.
The European Commission (composed of designated commissaries) dictates
to the European Parliament the plans; this Parliament only has the power
to "publish its suggestions." Nobody can deny that the institutions
of the European Union are antidemocratic.
-- These European directives, elaborated by the Commission to respect
the Stability Pact and implement the principle of "free trade",
then must immediately be translated into the national laws of all the
governments, all of which remain subordinate to these treaties; 80%
of the work of the members of National Assembly is dedicated to integrating
the European directives into the legislation. ...
We repeat: the European Union is not Europe, it is a series of institutions
and agreements. What some people have created to satisfy the needs of
the financial markets, other people can undo to satisfy the needs of
immense majority of the population.
Thus, are we incorrect to say that the reconquest of sovereignty passes
through the rupture with the European Union, its institutions, and the
Maastricht Treaty? How should we act in the current situation?
All the conquests of past generations are being undermined.
Our country has arrived at a situation where all the conquests are
being dismantled. ...
The situation is catastrophic. Can we afford to refrain from taking
the measures needed to put this to an end?
Yes, the situation is catastrophic due to the policies of the European
Union and the shell game of the institutions of the Fifth Republic.
Is it necessary to accept this, to not question these institutions?
This is a discussion that nobody who stands for democracy can afford
to ignore.
At our convention, we received the fraternal greeting of German and
Belgian activists. We accepted their proposal to jointly organize a
delegation to the seat of the European Union in Brussels, in order to
jointly express our rejection of the European directives which affect
all the peoples and nations.
-----
Appeal of the National Convention of May 27 and 28, 2006
At our convention, we reached the conclusion that the reestablishment
of political democracy requires the elections of a Sovereign Constituent
Assembly.
This would be an assembly formed by the representatives of the people
and elected by the people, it must freely and sovereignly decide the
forms of democracy needed. It would be an Assembly in which the parties
and organizations standing for democracy and speaking in the name of
the working class can clearly indicate that it is necessary to do away
with the Institutions of the Fifth Republic, submitted to the dictates
of the Europe of Brussels. It would be an assembly with the power to
re-establish political democracy and guarantee the reestablishment of
all the conquests of social democracy won through the class struggle.
Such an Assembly would have the mandate to end the growing suffering
imposed on us today. It would have the mandate to end the
decomposition of the Republic, which the current policies inevitably
facilitate.
Our convention believes that this struggle for a Sovereign Constituent
Assembly is integrally linked to the struggle to break with the Maastricht
agreements, that is, to re-establish the conditions of democracy and
social justice which they have been destroying for the last 14 years.
This position is not an ultimatum.
We are conscious of the extraordinarily difficult situation facing
our country today. We are conscious that national sovereignty is being
seriously undermined.
The very existence of nations is at stake today. Look at the developments
in Eastern Europe after the referendum in Montenegro: the leaders of
the European Union are ready to go all the way with their policies of
atomizing and dismantling -- that is, balkanising. They have already
announced that these policies will affect our country.
We cannot accept this political and social regression. On May 29, 2005,
the people, by voting "No" expressed their aspiration to see
things change in our country.
This was the same aspiration which was forcefully expressed through
the mobilization of millions for the repeal of the CPE. Is it possible
to ignore these legitimate aspirations? The youth and workers want a
decent jobs with a CDI (or Indefinite Job Contract) that is regulated,
with a good wage and real social protection. The farmers and fishermen
want guaranteed prices, enabling them to live from their labor.
The only solution is for the people to have the means to take control
of their destinies. That is the meaning of the position adopted by our
National Convention for the Reconquest of Democracy. This is not an
ultimatum. We submit this proposal to the largest discussion possible.
Even though not everybody will share the conclusions of our convention,
isn´t it clear that it is necessary to open up a deep discussion
concerning the means to move forward? A step in that direction will
be a step toward democracy.
While respecting the diversity of positions and points of view represented
in this convention, we propose to open up as wide a debate as possible
in the country, and develop and spread the local committees.
We propose to address all the activists and organizations that stand
for democracy to discuss this appeal and the initiatives taken by our
convention. In this way, we will help open up a solution, a solution
which requires the election of a Sovereign Constituent Assembly.
It is up to the people, and only the people, to define and create the
institutions it needs to reestablish democracy and satisfy the urgent
needs of the people.
Taking into account the seriousness of the situation, we propose to
organize in the month of December a mass demonstration in Paris around
the following slogans:
-- For the Reconquest of Political Democracy
-- For the Defense of the 36,000 Communes and Public Services
-- For the Secular and United Republic
-- For the Re-establishment of Public and Secular Education, which offers
a real future to the students. Public Funds for Public Schools, Private
Funds for Private Schools!
-- For the Defense of all the Social Conquests, the Right to Decent
Work, Social Security, etc.
-- For a Sovereign Constituent Assembly
-- For the Reconquest of National Sovereignty and the Right of the Nation
to Re-Nationalize or Nationalize the Key Sectors of the Economy
-- For the Rupture with the European Union
-- For the Free and Fraternal Union of Free Peoples of Europe
To receive the full appeal, please contact:
Comité national pour la reconquête de la démocratie
politique
C/o Jean-Claude Denis, 11. square Vitruve 75020 Paris
www.republiqueuneetindivisible.com - E.mail: republique.indivisible@fr.oleane.com
***********************
GERMANY
Open Letter to the Leaders and MPs of the SPD
"The ´reform of federalism´ destroys the bases of
democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany. You have no right to pass
it."
The law on the ´reform of federalism´ will be presented
to the Bundestag in a extraordinary session on June 30. More than 600
signatures have been gathered around this open letter. The signers have
demanded that the Parliamentary Group of the SPD meet with them at the
beginning of the month of May.
You do not have the right to submit to Merkel and Stoiber and render
the SPD jointly responsible for the destruction of the constitutional
foundations which made the Federal Republic a united "Democratic
and Social State."
---
The situation is extremely difficult.
Merkel wants to accelerate the "pace of reforms." She wants
to go all the way in the dismantling, begun by Schroder, of the political
and social conquests of the workers and peoples.
Thus, the legal and institutional obstacles to this destruction must
be eliminated. She insists that this draft law must, anticipating more
than 40 modifications of the Fundamental Law, be adopted before summer.
What citizen can honestly claim they are informed of all the upheavals
included in this ´reform of federalism?´
Why is it necessary to conceal that the government is trying to push
through the deepest constitutional reform in the Federal Republic since
1949, a veritable overturn of the constitution?
Let´s see what the experts say.
In the period of preparation for the ´reform of federalism,´
the political economist Wolfgang Renzsch wrote: "The removal of
state regulations following European integration, exposes the regions
to an aggravated competition with one another. At the same time, the
national state can no longer be, as it has until the present, a powerful
protector of the poorer regions. The weakest regions will be exposed
to the growing pressure of competition. The assurances of the 'preservation
of the unity of living conditions' of the founding law of the Federal
Republic of Germany, cannot remain."
What is the meaning of all this?
The answer is simple: In the name of adapting the institutions of the
Federal Republic of Germany to the law of the European Union, it from
now must be prohibited for the state to intervene to guarantee all its
citizens equal conditions throughout the country.
Brussels not only prohibits the state from intervening to protect threatened
enterprises and jobs (like, for example, with AEG) - it also prohibits
the state from defending a Land or a commune in a dramatic social situation.
Where are we headed?
The "Scientific Council of the Minister of Economy and Labor"
which prepared the draft law, gave even more specific explanations.
It wrote that the draft laws foresee the codification into law of the
submission of the public budget to the deficit criteria of the Maastricht
Treaty, to the "stability pact of the European Union."
In the name of the "national stablity pact," the Federal
and Lander governments will be obliged to enforce budgetary discipline
and lower their debts. Together they will have to abide by the penalties
imposed by the European Union, in a proportion of 65 to 35.
This means the end of the financial equalization, which links the Federal
State, the Lander, and the communes. Everything out of line with the
Maastricht criteria concerning the public deficit or any infraction
of the European law from any sector of the government will be sanctioned
by a payment to the European Union.
Under the gun of the deficit criteria and the renouncement of the state
from its mission concerning the whole state, public services, national
education, public social infrastructures, the Lander and the communes
will be forced into dire competition with one another to privatize and
deregulate all the public services, in a "drive to the bottom"
to lower social standards and wages, to get rid of national labor contracts,
to destroy communal property, and end communal democracy.
To get itself out of debt, the city of Dresden, for example, sold all
of its 48,000 community housing units to American investors. This process
threatens all the communes. Not only would it become the rule, it would
be encouraged by the new Law. Will this process effect what is left
of the hospitals, elderly home, universities and even the prisons? The
"reform of federalism" would make it possible.'
Can we accept this?
Isn´t Ralf Stegner, minister of the SPD for the interior of Schleswig-Holstein,
right when he warns, "A reform of federalism that doesn´t
strengthen all the Lander, but which creates a gulf between the poor
and rich Lander is bad. ... However, what is being planned is an agressive
federalism of competition to the detriment of the smaller Lander. "
The Social-Democrats have fought during the elections to the Bundestag
for the national collective bargaining contract. In the public services
there is a serious threat that the splitting up into small states would
result in the end of a national contract.
Isn´t Peter Struck, the president of the parliamentary group
of the SPD, right when, to heavy applause, he announced his reservations
concerning the prohibition of federal funding aid to the Lander, particularly
for education, concerning the crumbling of environmental standards,
and concerning the diversification of the norms on the homes of pensioners
and handicapped, as well as on the penitentiary institutions.
Isn´t Wolfgang Thierse, the SPD vice-president of the Bundestag,
right when he declares that the "reform of federalism" leads
"to the perpetuation of the backward situtaion of East Germany."
Representatives of the CDU/CSU have organized a campaign to immediately
impose, in the framework of this "reform", a limitation of
the loans given to the Landers in the East in the name of the financial
equalization of the whole State.
This would be a catastrophe. Our brothers and sisters in East Germany
would be left abandoned; it would be a plunge into the "competitive
federalism" of the European Union and the Maastricht Treaty. They
want to pit us against each other, for the benefit of the bosses, the
multinationals, and financial capital.
The DGB warns of the "dangers for the political and social cohesion
of the federal state"
How is it possible for the SPD to be an accomplice in the demolition
of the "democratic and social federal state" founded in 1949
to allow the country to rebuild itself from ruins and to guarantee all
the citizens equal rights and equal living conditions?
How is it possible for the SPD to be responsible in the destruction
of all this?
The Schroder government pushed through the devastating dismantling
of the social state with the Hartz laws, with the reform of health care,
etc.
And now the party must continue down this road?
No! Enough is enough!
Is there a solution to defend the country, to save its social unity,
as the German people hoped for in 1989?
Is there a way to maintain solidarity between the Landers and save
the SPD from catastrophe?
Yes! It is necessary to denounce and reject the infamous agreement
on the "reform of federalism," which Stoiber and Muntefering
concocted behind the backs of the people and against the will of the
majority of the SPD.
MPs of the SPD: You do not have the right to vote for this law!
You do not have the right to destroy everything the SPD defends, simply
because you are in a coalition agreement.
You know that the DGB poster that shows Germany split into 16 mini-states
tells the truth. Moreover, it is not a return to the 19th century, but
rather the balkanization and destruction of the social state and Germany.
You already know what is occurring in the schools of Mecklenburg and
Bremen. The alarm has been sounded because there is a shortage of science
teachers. The richest Landers have used the deregulation of the length
of the work day for public sector workers (since 2004) to play on the
competition of the poor Landers and to fire their teachers.
You know that this is only a taste of what would be put into place
with the "reform of federalism." The "Law on University
Freedom" (!) of the CDU/FDP government of NRW shows that the "reform"
will only help free the government from having to provide public services.
The NRW government decided to abolish the university as a state institution
and "liberate" the budget of the Lander. It became an autonomous
enterprise, with the right to fund private enterprises. The workers
of the Lander became workers of the University enterprise, excluded
from the national labor contracts. The establishment of tuition fees
"liberates" the students from a free education; they can become
now indebted in their years of education and become beholden to the
"liberating" clutches of international finance capital.
You know that only state responsibility for education and professional
formation and for equal pay can guarantee all the youth the democratic
and social right to a free education.
You know that the "reform of federalism" digs the grave for
the system of national collective contracts and prepares the way for
a dramatic aggravation of the processes already underway.
The public employers, particularly from the CDU, aggressively organize
the disintegration of the national contract. They act as if the "reform
of federalism" was already a finished deal. They confront our brothers
and sisters and their organization by attacking the unity of living
conditions.
Instead of a national contract, they want a patchwork of situations
without collective contracts, with only workplace agreements.
Against this, the public-sector workers struck for several weeks. They
defended their salaries, the length of their work-day, and their basic
right to organize, the right to have independent unions!
No Social-Democrat can tolerate that with the "reform," the
national collective bargaining contracts, the most important guarantor
of equal living conditions and the independence of collective bargaining,
will be buried.
Don´t you understand that the mobilization of millions of workers
and youth in France in the general strikes and the demonstrations had
a large echo in workers and people of Germany? With the CPE, the French
government wanted to establish a "trial period" of two years,
during which the employer could lay off the worker at any moment and
without reason -- that is, two years without any rights, in a situation
of slavery.
Article 20 of the Fundamental Law states, "Against he who intends
to eliminate this order (the democratic and social state) all Germans
have the right to resist."
This resistance is the order of the day!
What is true for all the German citizens is especially true for you
MPs of the SPD!
To all the MPs of the SPD:
Is it possible to allow this so-called "reform" to obtain
even one vote of a Social Democratic Member of Parliament?
Vote "NO" on the reform of federalism!
*******************
MONTENEGRO
Interview with a labor activist from Serbia: "Montenegro: How
far will they go?"
The "referendum" that just took place in Montenegro has opened
up, under the pressure of the European Union, valves to push for the
dislocation of all Europe.
ILC: What is your reaction to the event which the European Union and
NATO have greeted as a victory for democracy?
Answer: My reaction is: Will it ever stop? In 1990-91, the European
Commission and the government of the United States signed the death
notice of the Yugoslav Federation that was built by our grandparents
who, arms in hand, all nationalities together, kicked out the Nazis
and their allies, the big landowners and the capitalists.
To decompose Yugoslavia, the United Staets and the European institutions
leaned on the Mafias coming out of the totalitarian bureacracy. We saw
the results in the war in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia. In 1995, in the
American base in Dayton, Bosnia was "cantonized." Then, in
1999, NATO bombed Serbia and Kosovo. There are still tens of thousands
of NATO soldiers in the territories of the ex-Yugoslavia. American bases
are multiplying in Romania, in Bulgaria, etc. And now they have decided
to dislocate the people even more in this referendum.
ILC: In what conditions was this referendum organized?
Answer: It was the European Union that organized it. After all the
pressure and lies, the results, still unofficial a week after the referendum,
consisted of 55.12% in favor of secession; the European Union decided
that the criteria for recognizing the secession would be for 55% of
the population to come out in favor of secession.
Who is this Djukanovic, the President of Montenegro who is commonly
presented as a great democrat, the "champion of independence"?
How did he become a partisan of the separation from Serbia?
At the moment when the bureaucracy of Yugoslavia exploded into "national"
mafias, all in conflict with one another in a war against all the peoples
of Yugoslavia which imperialism sparked, the head of the Serbian bureaucracy,
Milosevic, chose his subordinates in Montenegro, particularly a man
coming from the party apparatus: Milo Djukanovic. This was the fruit
of having allied with Milosevic from 1991 to 1995.
But the bureaucratic mafias of Serbia and Montenegro came into conflict
concerning the distribution of the war booty and contraband profits
during the period of embargo against Yugoslavia. Leaning on the American
company Philip Morris, Milo Djukanovic carried out during this period
a contraband business of cigarettes through the Adriatic sea, while
his most serious competitor was none other than Marko Milosevic, the
son of Slobodan Milosevic. Djukanovic was able to crush, not without
trouble, various investigations concerning his role in the organization
of the network of prostitution. This helps to explain how it is possible
to understand the 180 degree turn toward becoming a defender of Serbian
chauvinism and the enthusiastic partisan of integration with the European
Union and NATO.
The mass media spoke of the "enthusiasm" of the people of
Montenegro for secession. The truth is that the workers of Montenegro
clearly see that the "independence" imposed on them only offers
the same fate given to the workers of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Albania --
that is, the privatization of the public enterprises, mass unemployment,
and crumbs distributed charitably by the compradore mafia of Djukanovic.
Imperialism must continue in its policy to dislocate ex-Yugoslavia,
the Balkans, and Europe, provoking a deeper and deeper resistance from
all the peoples of the Balkans and Europe. For this reason, imperialism
is forced to quickly prepare its military presence in the Balkans.
One of the first communiqués of Djukanovic after the referendum
stipulates that Montenegro will get rid of its military service, that
is, the army of the people, to build an army of well-paid professionals
integrated into NATO. The goal is clear: Disarm the people of Montenegro.
Is it possible to more clearly express "the enthusiasm" of
the people for its "independence?"
***********************
BELGIUM
Appeal to the delegates who participated in the European Conference
in Berlin on February 2006
There is an urgent need to continue the struggle which we have begun
together!
The delegates from Belgium to the Berlin conference address all the
delegates and make them a proposal: Can´t we establish a common
memorandum exposing the consequences of the policies of the European
Union?
On this basis, couldn´t we organize in the coming months a delegation
to the European Commission? What do you think?
One delegate from Belgium presented the following appeal at the National
Convention for the Reconquest of Democracy, which met on May 29 in Paris
(see the excerpts on page 2 and 3 of this issue).
----
Dear Comrades,
In the beginning of May, Belgium was struck by a racist assassination
that created a very emotional situation in our country. In Antwerp,
on May 11, a 24-year-old youth from Mali, as well as a small girl from
Belgium who she had been guarding, were killed by an individual who,
a few minutes earlier, shot a Turkish mother in the back. In the wake
of this crime, a young Moroccan died after a fight in front of a night
club on May 1st.
This is occurring in Belgium and Europe in the 21th century. Why? Nobody
can doubt that the extreme right is spreading a hateful discourse aimed
at putting Belgians and immigrants into conflict with one another, and
also between Flemish and Francophones.
But would the extreme right be able to play the role it is playing
without mass unemployment and the impoverishment of the population,
due to the policies dictated by the European Union and implemented by
the governments? These policies, which we all discussed at the Berlin
Conference, aim to destroy the whole social fabric. The whole working
class in Belgium and all its union organizations oppose this destruction.
To impose these policies, it is necessary to break up the unity of
the working class in our country, to crush the unity between the Flemish
and Waloon workers and between Belgians and immigrants. All the peoples
of Europe must be pitted against each other.
In the wake of the Second World War and its horrors, all the peoples
of Europe aimed to rebuild society, based on the development of social
rights, democratic freedoms, and solidarity.
Today, we are in the opposite situation. The European Union is nothing
other than the forced confrontation between the peoples of Europe in
order to lower labor costs. It is not a tool for economic development,
the free cooperation between peoples, and improving living standards.
In Belgium, the largest beer company in the world, Inbev (which continually
brings in high profits), just decided to move its technological and
accounting services to Hungary and the Czech Republic because labor
costs are lower there; it must be added that this off-shoring is subsidized
by the European Commission.
In the Berlin Conference, the Hungarian and Czech comrades demonstrated
that they in no way benefit from this process because the jobs eventually
created in their country do not at all compensate for the huge number
of jobs destroyed through the privatization of their national enterprises.
They explained to us that they live permanently under the threat of
seeing their jobs transferred to countries where wages are even lower,
such as China. In other words, the companies move from Belgium to Eastern
Europe only if wages there remain stable or drop even further.
This competition results from the Maastricht Treaty, which codified
it into a principle and a obligation. In Belgium, we see the ever-quickening
destruction of our "social model":
-- Industry has been decimated: The mines have disappeared and the
metal industry has been become a shadow of what it used to be. (And
it is currently the heart of the battle between Arcelor and Mittal.)
There is not a single sector - including the banks and the insurance
companies -- that is not suffering a loss in employment. During this
time, the profits of the most important companies have risen by 38%
in one year.
-- Public services, after the collapse of Sabena (the Belgian air company)
and the privatization of all the public banks, are continuing to be
cut, in implementation of the European decisions of February 26, 2001
and March 16, 2004. The public railway company is being cut into three
entities, in order to subject this sector to competition. The public
postal service has entered the same process, due to the European Directives
of December 15, 1997 and June 10, 2002; post offices are now being closed.
-- Education has deteriorated so much that now there are plans for
collaboration with the private sector in building and maintenance. This
is encouraged by the European Union through the Public-Private Partnership
(PPP) plans as well as guidelines number 7, 10, and 16 of July 12, 2005
-- Health care has been subjected to the criteria imposed by the Maastricht
Treaty. In six years, the cost for a sick person to be hospitalized
has risen 41%. At the same time, the contributions of the bosses to
Social Security have continually dropped; this is due to the implementation
of the strategy decided on at the European Summits in Lisbon and Barcelona.
(A current example is European guideline number 15 from July 12, 2005,
which calls for the "reduction of the non-wages costs of labor.")
-- Due to the direct dictate of the European Commission 2, the government
imposed -- against the strikes and massive protests -- a plan that threatens
access to the pensions. This plan created the conditions to oblige elder
workers to accept precarious contracts and seriously restrict the ability
for unions to negotiate in case of restructuring.
-- For their part, the unemployed are now facing the consequences of
the so-called "activization" plan (a concept pushed forward
by the European Union 3) which imposes even worse punishments if they
don´t accept any job offered to them, including going so far as
refusing to pay their unemployment relief.
The list of the negative consequences of the dictates and agreements
of the European Union could go on and on. This is a dead-end policy
that only pushes the workers, especially the unemployed workers, into
a more and more dramatic situation.
Together, at the Berlin Conference, we came to the conclusion that
it is not possible to accept the continuation of these treaties and
directives. It is a question of survival for the workers of our continent.
In Berlin, we discussed how the European Union aims to eternally impose
these policies on us, in complete contradiction with democracy itself.
How can the elected representatives of the people accept all this?
In the history of the post-war period, never before has our continent
been faced with such anti-democratic institutions, institutions which
virtually forbid questioning the political measures included in their
treaties and directives. That is why there is no option other than breaking
with these institutions.
The defense of our social conquests and the struggle to win back what
has been taken from us inevitably requires the break with the European
Union. This is the only way to meet the aspirations of the peoples after
the war for the free union of peoples and nations of Europe, to ensure
social and economic development, peace, liberty, and solidarity between
peoples.
The dramatic events which we have recently experienced in Belgium must
lead us to the following conclusion: There is an urgent need to put
an end to these policies, lest we face more similar tragedies here and
abroad.
We propose that the analysis published above concerning the consequences
in Belgium of the policies of the European Union be done by all of us,
in each of our countries. In this way, we can create a common memorandum
exposing the reality of these policies for Europe.
We propose that through this memorandum, we organize in the coming
months a European delegation mandated to go to the European Commission
in Brussels. We will ask them: Do you dispute these facts?
We propose that their response, together with the memorandum, be distributed
to all the workers´ organizations in Europe, as an appeal to develop
common actions to end these policies.
We feel that this is an urgent matter and we would love to receive
your proposals.
Fraternal greetings,
The Belgian Delegates to the Berlin Conference:
Philippe Larsimont, coordinator of the MDT;
Serge Monsieur, delegate of the CGSP-ALR (FGTB);
Jacqueline Muret, unionist CGSP-Enseignement (FGTB);
Olivier Palmans, main delegate CGSP Télécom, membre du
PS;
Henri-Jean Ruttiens, unionist SETCa-FGTB;
Christophe Xhrouet, student.
Contact: Philippe Larsimont, rue Defrécheux, 115, B4040 Herstal,
Belgique. EMail: aurorasant@tiscali.be
End Notes:
1.- Jean-Luc Dehaene, the former prime minister of Belgium and the
ex-vice president of the "Convention" wrote the draft of the
European "Constitution," was part of the Administrative Council
of Inbev.
2.- The European Summit of March 2002: "It is neccesary to lower
the individual incentives for anticipated pensions and substitute for
this systems of pre-pensions. ... It will be neccesary, from now to
2010, to raise the average retirement age in the European Union by 5
years." Guideline number two of July 12, 2005 states: "The
member states should, taking into account the costs of an aging population
Š reform and reinforce their pensions, Social Security, and the health
care systems to make them financially viable." Guideline number
18 is even more explicit: it demands that member states "support
active aging and adequate measures to favor labor and discourage anticipated
retirement" and to "maintain them on the labor market and
prolong their professional life."
3.- The integrated guidelines, which bring together the annual demands
of the employment directives, reaffirm in number 19 that: "Implementing
the active and preventative measures for the labor market, Š permantently
adapt the incentives and discourage social payments through increased
conditionalities." The social wage conditionalities is the obligation
pushed on unemployed to accept whatever job, to prevent their allowances
from being lowered or cancelled.
********************
SPAIN
For the Union of Free Republics of the Spanish State!
Neither the national rights of Catalonia, nor the rights of the workers
can be won within the framework of the European Union and the monarchy!
On the Referendum on the Statute of Catalonia
The newspaper Informaciones Obreras addresses the workers, unionists,
and activists on the eve of the referendum on the Statute of Catalonia,
which will take place on June 18, 2006. It invites them to sign this
appeal and participate in the campaign "For the Union of Free Republics
of the Spanish State."
The referendum on the Autonomy Statute of Catalonia, set for June 18,
poses serious questions for the workers of all the Spanish State and
for the people and youth of Catalonia and elsewhere. Is this statute,
around which there has been such controversies and divisions, the path
toward democracy?
Thirty years ago, the workers and people of Catalonia and the Spanish
State fought for their rights and for democracy. Through mobilizations
and through the ballot box, they fought for a democratic framework of
the coexistence between peoples, in which it would be possible to defend
the rights of the workers, the youth, and the people. Today, these sectors
are being viciously attacked by Capital in the name of globalization,
but due in reality to the dictates of the European Union.
March 14, 2004 was an important start for the workers and the peoples.
What is the situation today?
Highly industrialized Catalonia has seen its textile factories move
to Morocco and China; this process then occurred in the electronic industry
and other industries. Today, a major blow has been struck: the dismantling
of the automobile industry. At Seat, 1,400 jobs -- and many more in
the sub-contracted industries -- was eliminated by the government, the
Generalitat and with the support of the union leaders, but these layoffs
were not accepted by the workers -- who responded by striking.
Recently, the Braun company announced that it was closing the Esplugues
factory, which would result in 700 layoffs. The Braun workers protested
in front of the Palau de la Generalitat. When the people of Catalonia
demand sovereignty, they are demanding a government that can put an
end to the layoffs and delocalizations of factories, which Brussels
called "free competition," that is, the freedom to off-shore.
Isn´t this the same thing that is happening in the rest of the
Spanish State? To enter the Common Market, most of our heavy industry
was dismantled. The most recent agreement between the European Union
and China, ratified by the government, means the elimination of 115,000
jobs in the Spanish State.
This all occurs after Seat, Opel (Zaragoza) and Renault (Valladolid)
obtained similar agreements, which guarantee no future other than more
and more exploitation. Volkswagen -- which crushed the resistance of
the workers, due to the division in their ranks -- and Mercedes are
beginning to dismantle their factories in Pamplona and Vitoria; the
consequences of these factory-closings would be the end of most of sub-contracted
industry in this region.
The precarity, which has developed during the last 20 years, has become
aggravated with the recent agreement on the labor reform. Subcontracting
is spreading.
And what is the situation for our health care?
One of the main mandates given to the Socialist Party in Catalonia,
like in all the State, was to fix the crisis of health care. The financial
pact and autonomies, prepared by Solbes and imposed by Zapatero, "resolves
the problem" by submitting the state of Catalonia, like all the
sectors of the state, to the zero deficit plan dictated by the European
Union which privatizes this sector.
The autonomies have been a key instrument for social dismantling, to
accompany the deindustrialization, and satisfy the needs of the multinationals.
The workers rose up against this fate each time they were given the
opportunity to do so by their parties and their unions. On November
16, 2003, in Catalonia, on March 14, 2004 throughout the whole state,
the will to see change was expressed through the ballot box, the mobilizations
against the LOU, the dirty decree of Aznar, the Prestige, the war, and
against the policy of Aznar to spark confrontations between the peoples
in the name of the fight against terrorism.
The Zapatero government, instead of changing the policies of the previous
government, has continued the implementation of the dictates of Brussels
and respected the privileges of a state apparatus that is incompatible
with the most basic freedoms and rights. Thus, the dead-end of the State
and of the policy of autonomies has allowed for unprecedented Franco-ist
campaigns to pit the people against each other. This is especially true
with the statute of Catalonia. The government continues the counter-reforms
on labor and education, which are eroding the bases for coexistence.
Now, the government and the political and union leaders have led us
to a referendum marked by division and frustration. The two years in
preparation of the statute have been a sorry spectacle of bargains,
renouncements, and quarrels. And what is the result?
-- A surplus "of international realities" in the different
reforms of the regional statues, without any national rights for Catalonia
and the Basque Country, without sovereignty for the peoples of the Spanish
state, who are dominated by the dictatorship of Brussels, which is the
dictatorship of the multinationals
-- Deficit financing to compel Catalonia, like the other "autonomies,"
to liquidate the public services
--A rise in directives to impose what the Brussels institutions have
decided, without any directives to defend the interests of the majority
-- It is the road toward the destruction of Catalonia, of all the peoples
of the Spanish state, beginning with the most industrialized. It is
the Europe of Regions, the European Union, a machine to destroy the
nations. The fate of Catalonia will not improve if it becomes a "new
state" of the European Union, as some want. It is an insult to
the nation of Catalonia to offer it the fate of the people of the Balkans,
submitted to mafias and multinationals, without any shred of sovereignty.
Hasn´t the time come to affirm the will of the majority, that
is, to affirm the sovereignty of nations in the face of Brussels and
reaction?
Shouldn´t we say to the workers´ organizations and the
organizations which stand for national rights:
-- You have no right to continue to ignore the will of the majority
of the people!
Catalonia has the right to decide. The people urgently need the power
to decide for themselves, in order to end the destruction of industry
and the public services. But in what framework is autonomy and sovereignty
possible? Montilla was right when, in response to those who criticize
the statutes, he said: What you are asking for would require a new Constitution
and a new regime.
There can be no right to self-determination in the European Union,
nor in the Constitution of 1978. This does not enter into the framework
of the the Autonomies Reform of the State. What is necessary is a different
framework. A democratic change is an urgent need.
We address all the workers of Spain:
The question of the statute of Catalonia should be an alarm in the
face of the decomposition of the regime, which is incapable of providing
a solution for the peoples.
The unity of the workers with their organizations is needed to create
an alliance of workers and peoples to liberate us from the European
Union and end the powers of the Franco-ist apparatus of the Monarchy.
To establish democracy, that is, the Republic, it is necessary for
the people to be able to decide themselves how to govern and what kind
of relationships to establish between the different peoples.
For our part, we think that it is in the framework of the conquest
of the sovereignty of Catalonia that it will be possible to build a
Free Republic and a Union of Free Republics of the Spanish state, which
will allow for the preservation of a common economic framework and,
with this the social conquests, the unity of the class, and the freedom
of the peoples -- that is, the right to decide without Brussels and
the Crown.
We are not calling for any vote on June 18. In this referendum of division
there is no solution. We call on you to organize with us to establish
the unity that will open the door to democracy.
Join with us in "Workers and Youth for Democracy" and participate
in the campaign for the Republic and the Union of Free Republics of
the Spanish State.
************************
ITALY
"The essential thing is the independence of our unions":
It is necessary to reconquer our rights!
Interview
We are publishing herewith an interview with a leader of the CGIL in
the education sector from Piedmont, Italy. The interview took place
on the very day that Romano Prodi, after the creation of his government,
presented his program.
This interview opens a discussion and provides some responses. This
union leader believes that the essential thing in the current political
situation, in order to fight for the aspirations and demands of the
workers, is the independence of the trade unions in relation to the
government and the political parties.
This is an essential debate at a moment when the president of Confidustria
considers that it is necessary to "provide the means for growth
by lowering labor costs by 5 percentage points." In order to do
so, according to La Stampa, "the president of Confidustria sent
a message to the unions. The dialogue and coming-together should result
in concrete results in terms of productivity and new industrial relations."
Prodi immediately responded, according to an article in La Stampa on
May 25 titled "Prodi relaunches dialogue": "The president
of the Council will intervene in the assembly of Confidustria: A new
strategic agreement is necessary with shared goals, rules, and values."
Prodi, to implement a "domestic Maastricht," looks to "dialogue"
to submit the trade unions to the demands of the bosses and the European
Union. But the working class has not said its last word. It was not
for these policies that it kicked out Berlusconi.
Prodi confirmed that he intended, to respond to the demands of the
European Union, lowering labor costs by 5 percentange points.
The Prodi government is composed of members of the Margherita (such
as Rutelli, the vice-Prime Minister), many left democrats (such as Alema,
vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cesare Damiano,
Minister of Labor) and ministers and secretaries of state of the Party
of Communist Refoundation (such as Paolo Ferrero, Minister of Social
Solidarity).
The millions of workers who kicked out Berslusconi did not vote for
the continuation and deepening of policies in line with the demands
of the European Union.
-----
Interview with Teodoro Lamonaca, member of the leadership of the FLC-CGIL
(the union of workers in the public education sector and university
child care) in Piedmont.
ILC: What is your analysis of the situation after the elections and
the creation of the new government?
TL: The first thing the government must do is bring the troops home
from Iraq. But Alema, the DS Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1999, was
one of the main culprits of the war against the peoples of Yugoslavia.
He is responsible for the bombings against civilians, resulting in thousands
of deaths, and against the headquarters of Yugoslavian TV. Various journalists
were killed and dozens of others wounded.
This was called a "byproduct of war": On April 23, at 2 a.m.,
precision bombs from NATO struck, in the heart of Belgrade, the building
of Radio Television Serbe (RTS). In this building there were about 50
people -- journalists, technicians, and workers -- who were in the process
of filming their television show. After the explosions, a whole part
of the building collapsed. The bodies of at least 11 victims have been
discovered and the definitive number of deaths has still not been specified."
It the same with Kouchner in France, Fischer in Germany and Cohn Bendit:
these are proponents of war, camaflouged with "left" rhetoric.
Kouchner even dissolved the Greek "Doctors Without Borders"
organization because they came to the aid of the victims of the bombings!
Nevertheless, the Hippocratic Oath requires caring for all victims.
For me, the question of the war in the Balkans was a line of demarcation.
Concerning the new government: Daminio, the former leader of the CGIL
in Turin, was named Minister of Labor and Ferrero, one of the leaders
of the Communist Refoundation Party in Turin, also was named to the
government. Whether this is a positive or negative signal, I don't know.
Rutelli from the Marguerite (ex- DC) is the Vice Prime Minister. When
he was the mayor of Rome, he privatized the water and the gas. We will
see the results soon. Agnelli, the owner of FIAT, said: "I prefer
a government of the left, because it can pass measures which the right
would never be allowed to pass."
ILC: For you, what are the main demands to take into account?
TL: There is the problem of precarity. Almost all youth who work have
precarious employment. They will never have a sufficient number of years
of payment to receive a complete pension, especially because the years
of payment with a precarious contract are not taken into account. The
only years that are covered by a pension and retirement are years worked
in a permanent or full-time contract. If all the youth have ahead of
them is precarious jobs, they will only receive, at this rate, a monthly
check of 360 euros upon retirement.
80% of the youth have precarious jobs, and 70% of workers are poor.
These are the facts!
I am for the abrogation of the Biagi law on precarious labor, implemented
by Berlusconi. But it was a "left" minister who set up the
precarious contracts
It is neccesary to abrogate the Treu-Biagi laws and win back old conquests.
This holds also for education: It is necessary to abrogate the Moratti
(Berlusconi minister) and Berlinguer laws (Prodi minister in 1997) and
re-establish the national programs and re-establish all the lost jobs.
The 50,000 precarious university workers can thank the left for their
situation. My union struggled and, in the University of Turin, we succeeded
in transforming all the CDD into CDIs. Thus, it is possible to reconquer
lost rights.
ILC: What is your take on the situation?
TL: For me, the essential thing is the independence of our unions to
defend the interests of the workers. The last congress of the CGIL declared
that we must remain independent of parties and governments. This is
very positive, because I support union actions for our demands.
ILC: But hasn't Epifani (the General Secretary of the CGIL) proposed
a pact of 1,000 days with the Prodi government?
TL: No. Epifani said, "We will give the Prodi government 1,000
days to implement our demands."
ILC: What do you think of the ETUC and the European Union?
TL: The directives of the EU are in the interests of the multinationals.
I see the European Union as an administrative council of the bourgeoisie.
The nation states no longer decide their policies; they are now decided
by the European Union, with the multinationals behind it. The ETUC is
not a union which defends our demands.
ILC: In France, various people propose "professional social security,"
which would replace the labor code. What is your opinion on this?
TL: I am against this kind of individualization; that is, rights linked
to individuals; it means the end of the unity of working class and the
end of the working class itself. It is necessary to fight to defend
and win back our national collective contracts and our collective rights.
ILC: In Italy, we have proposed the creation of a National Committee
Against the European Union, and for the reconquest of democracy, the
defense of public services, and the unity of the republic. Would you
like to participate?
TL: Yes, because, for me, it is useful. The priority at this stage
is the need to relaunch the union actions that are independent from
the political framework.
********************
SWEDEN
Swedish Higher Education Politics - Commercialized Universities under
the Governance of the European Union
All over Europe the higher education system is increasingly adapted
to the EU policies in order to fulfill the Lisboa process and the needs
of transnational corporations. On the 23rd of February the Swedish parliament
voted yes to a bill for the higher education system titled, "A
New World - A New University." The bill, proposed by the Swedish
social-democratic government (together with Left party), is a completely
EU-adapted product, and will destroy what is left of the national higher
education politics.
Words like globalization, internationalization, competitiveness, Bologna
process are abundant in the text, but the word national is only found
at some few places. The social-democratic government (and the supporting
Left Party) has fallen completely flat towards the global neo-liberalism
when it writes: "Globalization increases the pace of change in
the society. At the same time as new jobs and companies are set up,
others will vanish. Nobody can count to keep a job with unchanged content
during a long time."
In this quotation there is no political governing, just kneeling before
the capriciousness of the market. The bill also says that as the globalization
increases the pace of change the need for life-long learning will also
increase.
Increased competitiveness, the leading guideline
The key word in this neo-liberal politics for higher education is competitiveness.
The objective of the bill is said to "strengthen the competitiveness
of the higher education. Sweden shall become an attractive country providing
high quality education within the frame of the so called Bologna process".
Most of my KTH (Royal Institute of Technology) colleagues still have
a vague conception of the Bologna process. The objective of this process
is as it is stated in the bill "to create a common structure for
the higher education in collaboration between the countries of Europe"
and " the belief is that we in Europe can maintain us well in the
international competition if we together develop the higher education
in a common direction."
The Bologna process is a part of the Lisboa process
Formally the Bologna process is not EU politics, but informally it
is the EU and the EU Commission that run the whole process. The bill
mentions that in June 1999 representatives of 29 European countries
signed the Bologna Declaration, which aims "by 2010 to create a
common European Higher Education Area (EHEA)."
The fact is that the EHEA is run parallel to the Lisboa process, which
aims that by the same year to obtain "the world's most competitive
and dynamic knowledge-based economy." The main content of this
strategy is to deregulate and liberalize the service and capital sectors,
inclusive the university sector. In order to fulfill the request of
the market the bill copies three of the main education targets of the
EU; to promote free movements, employability and the competitiveness
of Europe as an educational area.
This politic continues even after the referendums in France and the
Netherlands. In the conclusions from the June 2005 European Council
meeting, the Heads of States write that the education and training system
"shall adapt in response to new skills requirements " and
"to create the necessary conditions for an effective recognition
and quality assurance of both formal and informal education." This
means nothing else than the abolition of national education certificates
and training competences in order to satisfy the short-term need of
the so-called market.
Corporative superstructure
There is also the idea by the EU establishments that the EU and the
Commission can operate behind the curtains. The Bologna Declaration
is not a human right binding document, but the bill has to confess that
it "in other ways is judicially binding, as for instance the recognition
of certificates and the allowances of education, which is regulated
by various EU directives."
The follow up of the Bologna is carried through in a corporate-composed
group, a so-called partnership, where all states and the EU Commission
are partners together with a number of observers like European University
Association (EUA), European Association of Institutions in Higher Education
(EURASCHE), the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB), the European
Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), the Union
of Industrial and Employers Confederations´ of Europe (UNICE)
and others.
The work is coordinated by a small group whose chairman is taken from
the EU Presiding country and the vice chairman from the incoming Presiding
country. Most recently the Bologna process was followed up at a ministerial
meeting in Bergen, Norway, with the participation of the Swedish minister
of education, Leif Pagrotsky (www.bologna-bergen2005.no)
The organisation, EUA (www.unige.ch/eua), plays a deceptive role asa
useful EU partner. It contains high officials from European universities.
After the Bergen meeting, its presiding professor Georg Winckler says
that ""we need universities that are able to move out from
the shadows of nation states and able to do both: go for excellence
in research as well as teaching and providing broad, equitable access
to basic higher education in Europe."
The government misleads
The Swedish government tries in classical tradition to sit on two chairs,
when it writes "for Sweden the main implications of the Bologna
process Š is that the examinations structure will be changed, and at
the same time we keep and develop the main components in the existing
system." The essence of the Bologna process is to introduce an
Americanized higher education system based on cycles of 3-5-8. First,
the great number of college students should be provided with three years
mass education within areas, which basically increase the employability
within the EU at the level of a bachelor degree. In order to increase
the mobility, elite students will be offered the possibility to shop
from a basket of basically two years master degree programs, which act
under competition all over Europe. At last the excellence elite will
be offered a three-year research education.
The government claims "that these changes will not affect the
longer coherent education programs for a professional degree as they
will not be partitioned in stages with a certificate at each level."
In Sweden the civil engineer degree, which provides technical infrastructure
competences, is such a professional education. However this statement
is illusory if you encourage a system of employability and mobility,
Which students will then register for a 4.5 - 5 years professional degree.
Very few, and as in Sweden the economy of university departments is
depending of a voucher system in which the student is a customer, the
longer professional education will close down itself for lack of students/customers
and thereby resources, and without that politicians needing to take
any responsibility.
The Bologna politics is already here, national education politics are
destroyed
The Bologna process, in combination with the EU-directed budget and
its cost-ceilings, has meant disintegrated and strongly impaired working
conditions at the universities and colleges in Sweden. This is expressed
as incompetent leadership in general, increased stress among teachers
and students, a competitive system of room allocations, closed down
laboratories and workshops, only limited positions instead of permanent
positions, weak trade unions and a number of unsuccessful reorganisations
as the "new leaders" way of trying to handle the situation.
Nothing is kept of national higher education in the bill.
KTH has recently closed down the two Swedish engineering important
competences; the civil engineering and surveying degrees. The last classes
will be examined in 2006. These two classical education programmes have
been replaced by a new one called "the Built environment"
also implying a drastic reduction of student numbers from above 300
to 120. The whole reorientation was done without a proper discussion
of Bologna. The only decisive thought was to attract students by developing
the best professional program in competition with similar programs in
Sweden. During the reorientation, no documented job-market research
was done, and it was implemented as a classical top-down process with
limited influence from the teachers collective.
University fees are proposed
In Sweden it has been a sacred principle, and also in Europe at large,
that higher education should be provided free of charge, which is also
stated in the university ordinance. However with deregulation and the
opening up for an increasing number of international students at Swedish
universities, a committee appointed by the social-democratic government
in January 2006 has proposed introducing a university fee system for
non-EES students. It is proposed that students should pay more than
8,000 euro per academic year. EES-students outside of Sweden are exempted
from paying this fee, as all discrimination due to nationality is forbidden
according to the Rome Treaty, which implies that European citizens should
be provided higher education at the same term as national citizens.
It is a fear among Swedish student organisations that a university
fee system for non-EES student will lead to fees (administrative fees,
enrollment fees, etc) also at the state levesl. In France, the president
of the Board of the University of Grenoble-II publicly justified a specific
enrollment fee by the necessity to implement the Bologna 3-5-8 system.
In total 43 universities in France are said to apply specific enrollment
fees. This is pure EU-politics.
In a communication from 20 April 2005 the EU Commission wrote: "It
has been proved that a higher education free of charge is not sufficient.
Š This element puts the right to enrollment in a new light. The universities
that endorse increased enrollment fees refer to the argument that the
quality of the higher education will increase". This is false as
at the same time the contact hours decrease. The 27 April Le Figaro
commented in a shocking headline: "Brussel turns upside down the
taboo of a higher education free of charge". Thus the Bologna system
will lead to increasing inequality in access to higher education. Higher
education will be a privilege for those who can pay.
No to the EU educational politics of a European Higher Education Area
To implement the Lisboa strategy, the EU must deprive the nation states
of their decision-making powers of knowledge production and the education
and research politics in order to enforce its supranational politics.
For instance the EU Commission writes: "The EU has supported the
processes of restructuring of the steel and agriculture sectors. It
is now faced with the necessity to modernize the 'knowledge industry',
especially the universities" (Mobilize the European brains: to
admit universities to fully contribute to the Lisboa strategy, 25 April
2005). In plain language, the EU centralization of the higher education
system will in a near future lead to closing down all unprofitable universities
and university colleges.
It is a serious democratic problem that the Swedish university bill
was adopted without any open debate either at universities or in the
media. Academic values and human rights usually count as the most valuable
asset in a society. But nowhere in the EU Commission report titled "The
Role of the Universities in the Europe of Knowledge" are such valued
mentioned among the report's 2003 theses. When the ministers of education
met in Berlin in 2003 they wrote in their communiqué that the
Bologna process has a social dimension and that "ministers stress
their commitment to making higher education equally accessible to all,
on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means." This quotation
is originally from the UN International Convention on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (entry of force 1976), but the ministers deliberately
forgot to add the subordinate clause "Šby every appropriate means,
and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education.".
Universities in Sweden are a crisis sector ruled by EU directives and
its imposed budget and cost-ceilings. In the state financial plan for
the period 2003 -2008 the social-democratic government plans for a reduction
of the public sector consumption from 31.3 per cent to 28.1 per cent
of GNP. Compared to 2003 this will imply a public sector saving of almost
9 billion euro at the end of 2008. No wonder then that the parliament
voted yes to the "A New World - A New University" bill, which
makes Swedish universities open for competition at European level.
This will imply the closing down of a number of university departments
or even of entire universities or university colleges, the merger of
universities etc., and probably also the introduction of a university
fee system starting at the masters level. Who in Sweden 20 years ago
could have believed that these developments would have been a university
policy adopted by the Social Democratic Party or even by the various
conservative parties in Sweden?
Jan-Erik Gustafsson
Associate professor, KTH
Trade unionist in The Union of Civil Servants
President People's Movement No to the EU
*********************
13TH CONFERENCE OF THE ILC IN GENEVA, SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 2006
11 AM to 17 PM, Conference Room 9, 11 Varembré st.
As we do each year on the occasion of the Annual Session of the ILO,
the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) invites
you to discuss with us in a conference where we can exchange experiences
and information on the questions which the workers´ movement is
facing today on an international level.
The invitation to the 13th conference was published in Number 181 of
the ILC International Bulletin. We are re-publishing excerpts of this
invitation below.
The "new world governance" aims to impose the idea that the
trade unions should abandon the defense of the specific moral and material
interests of the working class and should be transformed into a "social
movement" linked to the NGOs.
From all sides, we are told that there are no longer social classes,
only individuals, that the basis of society should no longer be the
recognition of antagonistic interests, but the recognition of "communities."
Let us pose the question: Should the workers´ movement remain
as it is, should it defend the conquests won in the framework of the
nation-states, or should it dissolve itself into a "social project."
Is it the purpose of the trade union movement to adopt a political
project and transform itself into a social movement?
At moment when the decomposition of the regime based on the private
ownership of the means of production is threatening all the rights won
by the workers´ movement through generations of struggle, at a
moment when the very existence of the working class is threatened, isn't
is necessary for the workers to have specific organizations, their trade
unions and confederations?
-----
The ILC is not in competition with any existing organization and does
not aim to substitute itself for any organization.
We only aim to contribute to the debate and to facilitate the discussion
of the fusion plans of the ICFTU and the WCL, as well as other organizations.
In relation to this plan for a "new world governance," numerous
questions touching on the very essence of unionism are raised:
Is it possible for the trade union movement to place itself in the
framework of the creation of a "democratic governance of the globalized
economy"?
Isn´t the notion of a "world trade union" in contradiction
with the existence of national union federations and internationalism?
Doesn't the proposal of the "united trade union" raise the
problem of the respect of federalism and the respect of the existing
confederations?
Isn´t the "Social Responsibility of Businesses" in
contradiction with the collective conventions, the labor codes, and
the social laws won in the framework of the nation states?
We invite you to come discuss these questions with us at the Conference
of the ILC, on Sunday June 11, 2006. To prepare this discussion, we
invite you to read the ILC International Newsletter and to send us any
thoughts or documents you have which you feel will contribute to the
debate.
For more information about the conference, please write to the ILC.
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