Transnational firms, financial markets and the multilateral institutions that underpin them (IMF, World Bank, OECD, WTO) may be the engines of neo-liberal globalisation, but it is the governments of the major industrialized countries and, insofar as institutional Europe is concerned, the European Commission and the Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) which lay the tracks
If we allow a free hand to the Commission and to the IGC, the Nice Summit will open the door even more widely to social regression at a time when our wealthy Europe of 15 already numbers nearly 18 million unemployed and 62 million people living below the poverty line.
*The Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Already approved at the Biarritz Summit in October, it is to be proclaimed at the Nice Summit and could become a socially and democratically regressive instrument. For instance, it enshrines not the right to employment but the right to work, a welcome optional freedom for those of us with private means of subsistence! The right to a minimum income is not mentioned, but in contrast, the need for the free movement of capitals is stressed in the Preamble.
*Institutional reforms to prepare an enlargement to the East.
This enlargement, which will take place with no guarantee of social rights, will only serve the interests of traders who see in central and eastern Europe a large market to be conquered and a pool of highly qualified labour which can be employed at lower wages. Furthermore, in 2003, a European army will emerge, 180,000 strong, within the NATO framework and including countries of Eastern Europe.
*Revision of Article 133 of the Amsterdam Treaty.
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy is urging a revision of article 133 of the Amsterdam Treaty so that individual states will not be able to oppose agreements negotiated by the Commission at the WTO. Such agreements would concern investments, intellectual property rights and services such as health and education. What was possible within the OECD, where the refusal of one country was enough to defeat the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, would no longer be possible within the Union.
Attac-Ireland rejects the approach to these three issues. We want a democratic Europe that guarantees social and political rights, equality between genders, solidarity with the peoples of developing countries and a welcome for asylum-seekers.
We invite you to join us and other members of the Irish Global Justice Network in demonstrating our opposition to the neo-liberal Europe on offer in Nice.
For more details, contact Attac-Ireland.
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attac, the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens