Dear comrades,

The insertion of Portugal within the process of European capitalist integration – with the Single Market, the single currency and the Common Policies – has contributed to amplify the problems of the national economy, to a regression of labour and social rights, to promote liberalization and privatization processes, to increase social inequalities and territorial asymmetries, to increase structural deficits.

The rules, constraints and impositions of the European Union serve to deepen right-wing policies, to drive the intensification of exploitation and the concentration of wealth, to destroy national productive capacity, to loot and plunder public resources and heritage, for the predominance of the interests of economic and financial groups.

With Economic and Monetary Union and the Euro, additional instruments and mechanisms were imposed to control and condition the budgetary and economic policies of States – such as the ‘Stability Pact’, the ‘Fiscal Compact’, ‘Economic Governance’, the ‘Banking Union’– which represent an even greater and more serious usurpation of national sovereign attributes by the supranational bodies of the European Union, which are dominated by its great powers, thus consolidating it as the political superstructure of the process of capitalist integration.

Despite its contradictions and the difficulties it faces, this is a path that continues to advance in the European Union, pointing to new and more serious leaps and, at the same time, promoting and seeking the inclusion of ever more reactionary and fascistic forces.

Cynically hiding their responsibilities and instrumentalizing the grave consequences of their policy, they seek to open space to the imposition of even greater regressions of labour and social rights and to further attack sovereignty and democracy.

The reform of the ‘Stability Pact’ and ‘economic governance' are examples of this. To the dictatorship of the deficit and debt, they add the imposition of ceilings on public spending.

As is the intention to have future EU budgets mobilize significant resources for priorities defined in the name of a so-called ‘European sovereignty’, which is just another name for the interests of the main powers and their economic groups, including the arms industry, to the detriment of ‘cohesion’, of rights, of agriculture, fisheries, the environment, culture, or of peace and cooperation.

That is the driving force to deepen the single market, to strengthen or expand it to areas such as energy, transport, communications, digital, health, pensions, or even research.

In the name of ‘competitiveness’, we see the recipes that reinforce the concentration and centralization of capital in ever bigger monopoly groups, while continuing to attack labour rights in the name of ‘productivity’.

Spreading the fear of so–called imminent threats – whether external, epidemic, environmental, cybernetic or others - as well as the hypocritical and supposed defence of freedom and democracy, aim to create pretexts and conditions to impose further serious measures, such as the mobilization of substantial resources for a “war economy”, that is, for militarism and war, aligning with NATO and the US and subordinating itself to their interests.

Comrades,

The process of European capitalist integration is not the end of the line.

There is an alternative path that can address the problems and difficulties felt by the peoples of Europe.

It is a path that requires a break with the federalist, neo-liberal and militaristic choices and policies of the European Union and that asserts a Europe of cooperation between sovereign States with equal rights, of social progress and peace.

A Europe that opposes to the EU of the great powers and the monopolies’ interests, the rights, interests and aspirations of the workers and peoples.

A Europe that is also inseparable from the struggle of the Portuguese workers and people to break with right-wing policies and to open the way to sovereignty, democracy, development, social progress, peace and cooperation with all peoples.

Long live solidarity, cooperation and friendship among the peoples!

Long live the workers' struggle!

Long live the PCP!