Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

It is unsurprising that the European Council meeting focused so much on Greece. I note the Taoiseach's comments earlier offering support and solidarity to Greece. The antics of the Government are a peculiar definition of solidarity given its repeated statements of support for the vicious and brutal austerity plan that is being put before the Greek Parliament. I reject the notion that has been put forward by the Government that it is somehow in this country's interest for Greek people to have foisted upon them a vicious austerity programme. How could that possibly be in the interests of ordinary people in this country?

Let us look at what is being proposed in order for Greece to get the second misnamed bailout: a 10% cut in public spending; a 33% reduction in public sector wages and the virtual sacking of 20% of the public sector workforce; and the Greek economy will have to pay back €100 billion over three years, a staggering 40% of GDP. How could such a programme possibly be in the interests of any ordinary person in this country, particularly when the fruits of such austerity which has already been imposed on the economy have resulted in unemployment ballooning in Greece, 50,000 businesses going to the wall and industrial production falling by 20% with another 12% drop expected? All of that is to deliver nothing except what everybody knows could be the best outcome, a certain delay in what is inevitably now going to be a default.

What the Government has been reflecting is not that it is good for ordinary people in this country that Greek people are pauperised in this way, but rather its concern that a default by Greece would lead to huge losses for European banks, in particular German and French ones, and then a crisis in the eurozone and a consequential knock-on effect in terms of the strategy of the Government. The people who are worried about what is going in Greece are the banks and speculators who caused the problems in the first place. If ordinary people in this country really want to express support and solidarity, it is best expressed by offering support for the movements of mass opposition that is taking place in Greece and Spain, where the media has played a terrible role in keeping extremely quiet about the amazing developments that have taken place in Spain with millions of people taking to the streets, the occupations of squares and the huge demonstrations of enraged youth and workers inspired by the events in North Africa and the Middle East. That points a way forward out of this mess.

It is welcome that the Greek trade union congress has for the first time in 20 years called a 48 hour general strike. It is clear that more such action needs to take place and that the way out of the crisis is for ordinary people in Greece at a local and national level, and similarly with people in Spain and this country, is for us to link up in a united way to develop opposition to the austerity that is being imposed and to build solidarity across national boundaries. As other Deputies have highlighted, it is uncanny how similar the attacks are and the measures that are being foisted on Irish people through the EU-IMF deal. In some cases what is being foisted on ordinary people in other European countries is even worse.

The way forward is to step up the action that is taking place on the streets, develop it and come up with a solution that does not make ordinary people pay for a crisis that was not of our creation but goes back to the bankers, speculators and big bondholders across Europe who benefited substantially in the good times and now expect ordinary people to put their hands in their pockets and pay with our lifestyles and those of our children into the future. It is important that those struggles link up and that we do not bow down to the dictatorship of the financial markets as the Government does but that we stand up and ensure society is run much more democratically and for resources to be controlled in the interests of all people throughout Europe rather than the hierarchy at the top of the EU.

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