The Respect Manifesto for the June 10 Euro elections sets out a range of socialist policies. This is the full text.
The European elections will be the first national poll since two milion people marched in the
biggest demonstration ever seen in this country against war and racism and in defence of democracy and civil liberties. The first since Tony Blair took us into the Iraq war against the wishes of the majority of people in this country. The first since the proposal for topup tuition fees in the universities, the introduction of foundation hospitals, and a raft of New Labour policies which adversely affect the lives working people.
Tony Blair wants us to forget that he took us to war on a lie. He wants us to forget that thousands of innocent people were killed and vast resources wasted on the false claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which were a "real and present threat" to this country.
This election, therefore, is not only about getting MEPs into the European parliament who will represent the interests of working people. It is also about expressing our view on Blair's role in the war and the appalling record of New Labour in office. It is time for Blair to pay the price for his support for Bush, as well as his own domestic policies of privatisation and deregulation. Reject a Europe of cuts and deregulation
Respect welcomes the new hope that is springdances, new struggles, and new horizons. We want to be a part of that new hope and inspiration.
We reject the Europe of big business and the multinational corporations, which the European Union repre sents. The EU lacks basic democracy in its structures. It is regulated by the infamous Growth and Stability Pact -designed to restrict government borrowing and thereby the ability to spend on public provision, particularly in
The result is repeated attacks on social services and welfare within the member states as governments attempt to keep within the criteria. In the EU today pensions are under repeated attack. Social security systems are dismantled and privatised. Health and education are faced with privatisation and deregulation. Trade unions are threatened and labour markets deregulated; jobs are
These policies are shaped by the EU itself and imple mented at national level by both centre-right and social democratic governments (including New Labour in Britain) alike. Tony Blair seeks to play a major role in the EU, shaping its development along these lines.
Against racism and third world
The EU's Fortress Europe policy, based on the external borders against those victims of war,
globalisation and oppression who seek entry for political asylum or economic survival. It strengthens internal control (through the Schengen Information Service)
against those who manage to get in, it promotes racist
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) continues to be a mechanism which destroys agricultural production
in the countries of the impoverished South through the subsidies it pays to EU producers. These subsidies bankrupt Third World producers even when they work
under starvation conditions. The negative financial impact of the CAP on the economies of the South is greater than the sum-total of aid paid by Western govThe proposed EU constitution
Be reject the EU constitution currently being
It would set in stone, as EU basic law, the neo-libera management of the European economy.
It would set in stone a Europe in which the decisions of elected parliaments (with all their limitations) are handed over to an unelected bureaucracy.
It would institutionalise the EU's democratic deficit through increasing the voting power of the biggest and most powerful member states.
It would marginalise the smaller countries and make the 10 new countries joining the EU this year into second-class citizens, existing as a pool of cheap labour with their citizens having restricted rights of movement within
We call for a referendum in Britain before this constitution is accepted. Let the people decide! No to the Euro and the stability pact
Be note that the British government has pledged to hold a referendum if they propose membership of the Euro-zone. We will strongly oppose the anti-European xenophobic right wing in such a referendum. Because of the role and effects of the stability pact we will vote 'no' in such a referendum on this issue. We will propose, against Gordon Brown's five economic tests for membership,
• Who would benefit most from membership, the working people of Europe or the big corporations?
• Would it democratise European society or concentrate power into fewer hands?
• Would it challenge the neo-liberal agenda, of privatisation and deregulation, or integrate it more thoroughly into the EU?
• Would it defend and preserve welfare provision or coordinate the attacks on it more effectively?
• Would it undermine racism and xenophobia or institutionalise it still further? For a different Europe
La will campaign for a different Europe, a Europe based on need not profit. A Europe which is a clear alternative to global capital, which opposes militarism and war, is open to the needs of the countries of the South, which defends human rights and human dignity. A Europe of solidarity and hope.
We want a Europe free from the neo-liberal polices of the WTO and the IME, free from NATO, free from foreign military bases - a Europe free from weapons of mass destruction.
A Europe which rejects war as a means of settling international conflicts.
A Europe which has respect for the cultural, religious, political, and personal choices of its citizens.
A Europe which rejects nationalism and xenophobia.
A Europe of internationalism which supports the struggles of the oppressed, including the struggle of the Palestinian people Defending the environment
need a Europe which takes the environthe need for a radical shift in energy consumption and transport policy, based on sustainable tive lobbying group for the big business agenda and against the interests of the people of Europe.
Against their agenda we advance the rights of working people. We defend the rights and interests of wage earners in the workplace. We insist on their right to earn a living wage, in decent working conditions, with trade union protection, and with their jobs protected against the ravWe call for public services which will guarantee equa rights to education, health care free at the point of need and transportation and which will be democratic and
The lies, hypocrisy and bloodshed by Blair and Bust have brought the urgent need for a political alternative An important start can be made in these elections.
There is a crisis of representation at the heart of poli tics in Britain. Respect is determined to address that crisis by presenting a real alternative. MEPs elected on behalf of Respect will demand:
• 'No' to a Europe of big business
• An end to the occupation of Iraq.
• A referendum on the proposed European constitution
• End privatisation, bring the railways and other public services back into democratic public ownership
• A free, fully funded, comprehensive, education sys tem which gives an equal opportunity to every child
• Health provision free at the point of need
• Pensions linked to average earnings
• A minimum wage raised to the European Unior Decency Threshold
• Tax the rich to fund welfare: close the growing gat between the poor and the wealthy few.
• Repeal the Tory anti-union laws
• Defend the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.
• Opposition to the European Union's Fortres Europe policy.
Contact RESPECT
More details of the Respect campaign
can be found at
http://www.respectcoalition.org
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6 soclalst Euro-Election campaigns Don't mention the war ... nce May 2004 COMA Free