Euromarchers demand social justice
Labour Left Briefing, June 19971990sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
Marchers are on the road across Europe protesting about unemployment and all forms of social exclusion. They are heading for Amsterdam on 14th June for the inter-governmental conference of the EU. In Britain they started from Jarrow and Preston and are due to pass through London on 7th June with a rally and a demonstration.
Labour have been elected and the celebrations have rightly taken place. But where does this leave the unemployed and the homeless, those on low pay and living in poverty? Labour is already preparing wholesale "reforms" of the welfare state with Frank Field in charge. The need to defend the welfare state has increased not declined.
The convergence criteria for EMU require that government spending be cut prior to entry. The policies of the new Labour Government will be shaped and constrained by this.
The big decision for Tony Blair is whether to go into the first round of EMU or wait. That decision will probably determine the pace of "reforms" of the welfare state. Waiting for the second round may not be so easy. Important sections of British industry fear being sidelined entering in the second round. Concessions already being made to Blair by EU ministers, like reducing VAT on domestic fuel, are sweeteners for EMU. The decision to surrender control over interest rates, for whatever reason it was taken, is a prerequisite for entry into EMU.
Once in EMU the effect is the same. The constraints on government borrowing contained in the form of the Stability Pact agreed recently iin Dublin.
It is to protest at these measures that the marchers are on their way to Amsterdam. They will tell Tony Blair that it is not true that the Labour Party or the trade unions are united in their approach to the Maastricht treaty, the single currency or the EU. There are those who's first principle is opposition to unemployment and the defence of those who are the victims of the divided society. These are represented by the Europe marches and the many who have sponsored and supported them.
• Further information: Glenn Voris, Secretary of the British marches, St. Helens TUC Resource Centre, 21-31 Barrow St., St Helens, WA10 1RX. Tel 01744-755889.