Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The summit of European Union leaders of 22 May 2013 did absolutely nothing of substance to address the really serious economic crisis in many countries within the European Union. Against a background of 26 million people unemployed, nothing short of emergency measures is called for. Such measures, were they to be effective, would be obliged to take into account that capitalism, as an economic system, has utterly failed the majority, the working-class people of Europe. In the first place, it was the capitalist financial market system, with its unprecedented speculation and profiteering, that dragged the real economy into crisis and created the present situation. Moreover, the response of the European Union's economic and political elite says it all. Instead of addressing that issue, it puts the burden onto the shoulders of working people and poor people within the European Union. One need only consider the example of Greece, reduced to penury, or that of Portugal, Ireland and other peoples, suffering under the dreadful yoke of austerity, which now is widely recognised to be a total disaster. In response to the situation, one gets empty words from the President of the Commission, Mr. Barroso, as well as from Ministers in the current Administration, to the effect that austerity has reached its limits. However, words mean nothing.

The statement following the EU summit trotted out the same old clichés, relying essentially on the same system and the same institutions that caused the crisis to get us out of it.

I was interested to note that the communiqué drew attention to a fall in private investment across Europe. It also stated that investment in the European energy sector is at historically low levels. However, it did not draw attention to what has been in the financial press for the past two years, namely, that €3 trillion, that is €3,000 billion, of accumulated profits lies fallow in the coffers of big European corporations because they estimate it is not profitable enough for them to invest.

The summit then went on to discuss taxation but did not propose the type of radical action that would be needed, for example, a 60% emergency tax on the €3 trillion that is hoarded by these major EU corporations. That would release €1,800 billion for investment in substantial job creation and necessary infrastructure and services across Europe to put the youth of Spain, the youth of Ireland and the youth of every country back to work and give them a future, by contrast to what is happening at this time. Similarly, it did not propose putting those funds into energy generation, clean generation or public generation.

How can an Irish Government bring any credibility to a taxation argument, however, when the taxation laws and structures of this State are used by some of the biggest multinational corporations on earth to evade and avoid paying billions of euro of taxes? Those who deny that is the case are denying a reality that is well-proven at this stage.

The current economic and political elite in the European Union promise only a continuation of the same old failure of capitalist policies. The masses of European working people and poor people should rise up in opposition and revolt, demanding an alternative, which would be a democratic and socialist alternative, for the resources to be released for public investment into productive sectors of society where the financial institutions are in public ownership and under democratic control, and for a plan to end this crisis to provide a future for the youth and work for everybody who is capable of it rather than relying on the same old failed structures that only promise ongoing suffering and crisis.

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