Dear signatory of the Appeal to the left and progressive forces in the European Parliament,

We thank you for signing the Appeal. Enclosed you find the Appeal (English, Dutch, French, German and Spanish) together with the final list of organisations and individuals supporting the initiative. 

We think it is a significant mixture of ngo’s, activists, academics and political  actors, from Finland to Greece (and even from the USA and Canada), who express their worry about weakening alertness of left forces in the European Union. No doubt, the response would have been stronger were it not for the holiday period. Anyway, we believe that this Appeal will be a signal to the left forces that their political positions do not go unnoticed, and that broad progressive circles are expecting a more principled attitude.

As announced, we will send the Appeal and the list of signatories to the 39 members of the left group in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) and to the presidency of GUE/NGL, social democrats (S&D) and the Greens, inviting them to seriously take into account the worries of the signatories when they have to take a final decision on European recovery and multiannual budget. You find the accompanying  messages in the attached files.

You are invited to make public this Appeal in your own circles and publications. We will try to give it  some resonance in the broader media.

In solidarity,

Ludo De Brabander (Vrede)
Herman Michiel (Ander Europa) 

Appeal and signatories.pdf

Letter to the presidencies of S-D, Greens and GUE-NGL.pdf

Letter to the members of the left group GUE_NGL in the European Parliament.pdf

APPEAL TO THE LEFT PARTIES IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

On 23 July, the vast majority of the Left Group (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament approved, together with the
social democratic (S&D), Green and rightist (EPP, Renew) parties, a resolution which opposes the ‘European deal’ of 21 July, in which the Council of the European heads of state and government reached an agreement on a European recovery plan and the multi-annual budget.

There is indeed much to be said against this deal, which was a compromise to meet the concerns of the ‘frugal’
member states, led by the Netherlands, which explain the problems of southern states like Italy and Spain as the
consequence of their ‘irresponsible’ budgetary policy. The deal implied the reduction of a number of items of the
recovery plan and the EU budget, including health and climate. That is a valid reason for opposition, also from the left. But the resolution of the European Parliament requests not only the restoration of the original amounts of money for socially responsible causes, but also for absolutely indefensible ones. The two most reprehensible items are the European Defence Fund and the Integrated Border Management Fund.

The Defence Fund is a surreptitious way of channelling European money to the military industry under the guise of ‘industrial policy’. The 21 July deal grants ‘only’ 7 billion for this fund. The military-industrial lobby is of course
disappointed, because initially 13 billion € was foreseen. We cannot accept that left and progressive parties support a request for more money for the militarization of Europe.

And there is the ‘Integrated Border Management Fund’. By endorsing the Parliament resolution, the left-wing group calls for the strengthening of Frontex, the EU’s increasingly militarised approach to migration and asylum policy, responsible for thousands of drowning people in the Mediterranean, for outsourcing border surveillance to dictatorial regimes. This policy that has already been condemned by several humanitarian organisations, and can in no way be supported by progressive forces.

It should also be remarked that the resolution is silent on the conditions which, according to the European deal of 21 July, will be attached to the allocation of grants and loans from the Recovery Fund to the Member States. By
supporting the resolution, one keeps quiet about this ‘money in exchange for neoliberal reforms’ horse trade.
We conclude that the resolution fundamentally contradicts progressive views in general, and the programmes of
left-wing parties in the EU in particular. By approving it, the already severely weakened left in Europe makes itself
superfluous.

The signatories of this call urge the left fraction in the European Parliament and its member parties to seriously
reconsider their strategic options. We also appeal to the progressive forces in the social democratic, green and
other parties to resist the militarization of Europe and an increasingly inhuman and antisocial policy.  

 

Signatories

Signed as an organisation:

Agir pour la Paix (Belgium), Belgische Coalitie stop uranium wapens, Bruxelles Panthères, Comité Surveillance OTAN, (Belgium), Communist Party of Finland, International Coordinating Committee of “No to war – no to NATO”, Leuvense Vredesbeweging (Belgium), Links Ecologisch Forum (LEF, Belgium), Mouvement Citoyen Palestine (Belgium), Socialist Democracy (Ireland), Stop Wapenhandel (Netherlands); Vredesactie (Belgium), Vrede vzw (Belgium)

Individual signatories:

Dirk Adriaensens, Brussells Tribunal (Belgium) | Tassos Anastassiadis, member TPT, journalist
(Greece) | Karel Arnaut, antropologist, KU Leuven (Belgium) | Jean Batou, solidaritéS/Ensemble à
Gauche, member Geneva Parliament (Switzerland) | Reiner Braun, Kampagne Stopp Air Base
Ramstein (Germany) | Ingeborg Breines, former president International Peace Bureau (Norway) |
Bob Brown, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (USA) |Marijke Colle, ecofeminist, member SAP (Belgium) | Filip De Bodt, Climaxi (Belgium) | Ludo De Brabander, Vrede (Belgium) | Lieven De Cauter, Philosopher, RITCS, School of Arts, &amp | Department of Architecture KULeuven | Herman De Ley, Em. Professor, Ghent University (Belgium) | Klaus Dräger, former policy advisor of the GUE/NGL on employment, social affairs (Germany) | Yannis Felekis, member TPT, immigrant support activist (Greece) | Pierre Galand, former senator Parti Socialiste (Belgium) | Eloi Glorieux, former member Flemish Parliament, peace and ecological activist | Kees Hudig, editor Globalinfo.nl (Netherlands) | Anton Jäger, University of Cambridge/Université Libre de Bruxelles | Ulla Jelpke, member of German Parliament (DIE LINKE) | Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, editor defenddemocracy.press, former member of the Secretariat of SYRIZA (Greece) | Stathis Kouvélakis | Costas Lapavitsas, Prof. of Economics, SOAS (London), former member of the Greek Parliament | Tamara Lorincz, PhD candidate | Wilfrid Laurier University, (Canada) | Herman Michiel, editor Ander Europa (Belgium) | Anne Morelli, honorary professor ULB (Belgium) | Karl-Heinz Peil, Friedens- und Zukunftswerkstatt (Frankfurt, Germany) | Lucien Perpette, member Fourth International (Slovenia) | Stefanie Prezioso, member Swiss Parliament | Matthias Reichl, press speaker, Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence (Austria) | Nordine Saïdi, decolonial activist (Belgium) | Catherine Samary, Alter-European economist (France) | Ingeborg Schellmann, member Attac (Germany) | Rae Street, activist against NATO (UK) | Daniel Tanuro, ecosocialist, author, member Gauche Anticapitaliste (Belgium) | Eric Toussaint, spokesperson CADTM International | José Van Leeuwen, Docp/BDS, Netherlands | Willy Verbeek, president Beweging.net Herent (Belgium) | Andy Vermaut, climate and peace initiative Pimpampoentje, president PostVersa (Belgium) | Marie-Dominique Vernhes, in the name of 12 members of the working group ‘Europa’ of Attac Germany | Asbjørn Wahl, author and trade union adviser (Norway) | Prof. David Webb, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK) | Andreas Wehr, Marx-Engels-Zentrum Berlin | Thomas Weyts, member SAP (Belgium) | Thodoris Zeis, member TPT, lawyer, refugees and immigrant support (Greece) | Bob Zomerplaag, Enschede voor Vrede (Netherlands).

 

Letter to the presidencies of S-D, Greens and GUE-NGL

Dear Iratxe García Pérez, president of the S&D Group in the European Parliament,

Dear Ska Keller, dear Philippe Lamberts, co-presidents of The Greens/EFA

Dear Manon Aubry, dear Martin Schirdewan, co-presidents of GUE/NGL

The approval by the progressive groups in the European Parliament (S&D, Greens and GUE/NGL) of the resolution on the Conclusions of the extraordinary European Council meeting of 17-21 July 2020 did not go unnoticed by progressive forces, from within the EU and even from without. In the first place, the peace movement is appalled by the support for a larger budget for the European Defence Fund, which implies a further militarization of Europe. Secondly, the resolution calls for more money for the Integrated Border Management Fund. May we remind you that the EU’s increasingly militarized approach to migration and asylum is already responsible for thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean, and that this policy has already been condemned by several humanitarian organisations. Thirdly, the resolution is silent on the conditions which will be attached to the approval of grants and loans, although the coupling with the European Semester is a bad omen.
Enclosed you find an Appeal to reconsider the political orientation in these matters, together with the list of signatories. They come from varied quarters and member states, and hopefully convince you of the expectations we put in you. As the final decisions will only be taken in the coming months, we hope your group will then have a principled attitude.
May we ask you to inform your members on this Appeal ? We thank you in advance.

Kind regards,
The signatories of the Appeal

 

Letter to the members of the left group GUE_NGL in the European Parliament

Dear member of the left group GUE/NGL in the European Parliament,

The approval by a majority of members of the left group in the European Parliament of the resolution on the Conclusions of the extraordinary European Council meeting of 17-21 July 2020 did not go unnoticed by progressive forces from different quarters, from within the EU and even from without. In the first place, the peace movement is appalled that your group supported the call of the mainstream parties for a larger budget for the European Defence Fund; this is a fundamental break with the past, as the left was always opposed to the
militarization of Europe. Secondly, the resolution calls for more money for the Integrated Border Management Fund. This implies the strengthening of the EU’s increasingly militarized approach to migration and asylum policy, responsible for thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean, a policy that has already been condemned by several humanitarian organisations. Thirdly, by approving the resolution, you also approve its silence on the conditions which may be attached to the approval of grants and loans; however, the explicit link of the recovery plan with the European Semester is far from reassuring.
We know that your group proposed a number of amendments, opposing some of the mentioned positions; this proves that you are well aware of the reprehensible points in the resolution. You did nevertheless approve it; if we should infer from this that GUE/NGL considered the three abovementioned objections as minor issues, we would thoroughly disagree with this.
Enclosed you find an Appeal to reconsider the political orientation in these matters, together with the list of signatories. They come from varied quarters and member states, and hopefully convince you of the expectations we put in you. As the final decisions will only be taken in the coming months, we hope your group will then have a principled attitude.

Kind regards,
The signatories of the Appeal