Symbolic coincidences occur at times in History, and tomorrow is one such moment. On the day that Portugal commemorates an important date of affirmation of its nationality, the 1st of December, marking 369 years since the recovery, after struggle, of national sovereignty and independence, the Portuguese people are confronted with a serious attack on the sovereignty and independence of its country with the entering into effect of the Lisbon Treaty.
With this new Treaty, Portugal enters a new stage of "European integration" that institutionalizes neo-liberalism as its economic doctrine; that consolidates the European Union as an economic and political block with imperialist character; deepening it militaristic front; and that reinforces its federalist character and the directory of the great powers of the European Union. The Lisbon Treat will enter into effect tomorrow, but PCP reaffirms today that the path of the European Union is not an inevitability and that the social, labor, and national rights, the present and future of the country, are still lie in its own hands and in their capacity of struggle for social transformations that pave the way towards rupture and a necessary patriotic change towards the left.
In this process of imposition of the Lisbon Treaty upon the peoples of Europe, Portugal will be presented tomorrow as a "winner". But, as PCP tirelessly denounces, the its people and the country lose with this Treaty, as well as all the remaining peoples of Europe.
They lose because the deepening of the structural crisis of the capitalist system and the profound economic and social crisis the country is facing demonstrate that the policies this Treaty institutionalizes are exactly at the origin of the crisis, of the structural deficits, the dependency and the serious economic and social problems of our country. The Portuguese workers and people lose because this treaty embraces a whole line of anti-social policies that guarantee millions in profit for big capital at the cost of mass unemployment, precarious labor, widespread poverty and inequalities and the destruction of historic achievements of the workers movement in Europe.
Portugal loses with this Treaty because it sees a transfer of sovereign competencies in multiple domains, while also losing influence in the decision making processes in the European Union.
The peoples of Europe and the World and their just desire for peace and international security also lose. The creation of an European Defense Agency – tied to the interests of the European military-industrial complex; the reference to an increase in military capacity and expenses; the submission of European member state civilian and military means to the objectives defined by the Council; the proclamation of faith relative to NATO inserted in the Treaty; the creation of the "European External Action Service" are, among other orientations, concrete proof of how dangerous a step is being taken along a militaristic and interventionist stance by the European Union, associated with the USA and NATO, and of the deepening of the character of a global organization with an aggressive nature.
Lastly, democracy loses. Because the Treaty that will be enforced tomorrow is a second version of the so-called «European Constitution», which was defeated in referendum, in 2005, by France and Holand and that will also be remembered as that which, in order to enter into effect now, denied the right of expression to Peoples and stampeded the popular will expressed in the Irish referendum of 2008, forcing this people to repete a referendum until the desired outcome was reached.
The Lisbon Treaty is deadly wounded by a process that underlined the anti-democratic character of the current path of the European Union. This Treaty lacks political and institutional legitimacy, by its content and because it is marked by the disrespect for democracy and the sovereignty of the Portuguese people.
For PCP, the sovereignty of a people, of our people, is not a transactional commodity in any game of dominion among dominating classes or powers. For PCP, sovereignty is an intrinsic element of democracy, and inalienable right that belongs to the Portuguese people and can only and should be only exercised by the people.
The promoters of the Lisbon Treaty, represented in Portugal by the Socialist Party (PS), Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Democratic and Social Centre - People's Party (CDS-PP), have fled for years from a free and democratic discussion regarding the path of European integration and the contents of the so-called «European constitution» and this Treaty. They have denied the Portuguese people – contradicting electoral promises – their inalienable right to pronounce themselves on fundamental questions of the collective future. This is the fundamental reason why tomorrow, when the Lisbon Treaty will enter into effect, the Portuguese people will be largely unaware of its serious consequences. The responsibility of the democratic aberration will inevitably be assigned by History to those that, submissive to the interests of big capital and powers, opted to impose their single class vision of relationships among States in the European continent.
But the peoples, with the forces of progress, with the communist parties, shall continue their struggle for another Europe. A Europe of the workers and peoples that can never be built against their interests and aspirations. A Europe that cannot be drawn to serve the objectives of dominion by big capital and a handful of powers. A Europe that must be bases on its deepest foundations of respect for History and the sovereignty of nations, for democracy, for democratic participation and rights. A Europe founded on the strict respect for the historic achievements of the workers movement in the continent. A Europe that breathes the values of peace, solidarity and cooperation, answering the just anxieties and aspirations of its peoples.
At a time with a new and important militaristic, neoliberal and federalist leap in the European Union is being consummated, PCP affirms to the Portuguese workers and peoples that it will not resign before the new limitations upon national democratic life that this Treaty implies.
Confronting the letter and spirit of the Portuguese Republic's Constitution, the political, institutional, economic and social implications of the Treaty place new demands on those democrats and patriots that pursue their struggle for democracy, for the defense of social and labor rights, for the right of economic development of the country, for sovereignty, for peace and cooperation in Europe. But the enforcement of the Treaty does not in any way represent the end of the struggle against its content, against its objectives of dominion and the politics it embodies. On the contrary, this struggle becomes even more urgent and demanding.
