The approval by the European Parliament of the proposal of appointing Manuel Durão Barroso for President of the European Commission represents the continuation of community policies and orientations that have presided the current neoliberal, federalist and militarist path of the European Union.
1. The approval by the European Parliament of the proposal of appointing Manuel Durão Barroso for President of the European Commission represents the continuation of community policies and orientation that have presided the current neoliberal, federalist and militarist path of the European Union. Policies and orientation that, one should recall, are at the origin of the profound economic and social crisis that affects several member States of the European Union, with devastating consequences for millions of workers and for peoples.
2. The reelection of Manuel Durão Barroso means, as he himself has made a point of referring, not only the continuation but the deepening of the policies that are at the root of the violent attacks upon worker's rights in the European continent, the dismantling and privatization of the social functions of States and the liberalization of public services.
3. For PCP the fact that the now reelected President of the European Commission is a Portuguese citizen does not by any means alter its evaluation of his political path and the policies that Manuel Durão Barroso defended, defends and executes in Portugal or in the European Union.
For PCP, what matters are the policies and not the persons pursuing them.. PCP does not forget that the former Portuguese prime-minister participated in the summit, held in the Azores, that gave total cover to the criminal war in Irak and that now defends and demands that member States of the European Union have a greater involvement in the war in Afghanistan. Manuel Durão Barroso is one of the promoters of the accelerated militarization of the European Union in the framework of an increasingly more aggressive NATO.
PCP does not forget the fact that Durão Barroso is a leading defender – together with the current Portuguese prime-minister – of the Lisbon Treaty and of the anti-democratic imposition of a new referendum in Ireland, already marked by unacceptable external pressures.
PCP does not forget the fact that Manuel Durão Barroso has and will continue to have a central role in the definition and execution of community policies that are in profound contradiction with national interests, namely in the economy, industry, energy, fisheries and agriculture.
These are more than sufficient reasons for the vote of PCP and the Group it is a member of – the Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left – against the proposal of the Council to reelect Manuel Durão Barroso.
4. PCP must note that, in a context where the Socialist Party (PS) makes an effort to highlight its differences with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the current national electoral campaign for parliament, the PS has converged precisely with the right in its support of the reelection of Manuel Durão Barroso and the continuation of the openly neoliberal policies that are at the origin of the injustices and inequalities verified in our country and in the European Union.
5. The agreement achieved by the liberals, right and considerable part of European Parliament's social democracy in reelecting Manuel Durão Barroso demonstrates once again that another policy of progress and social development, of just redistribution of wealth, of struggle against poverty and unemployment in the European Union can only be obtained by the intensification of the struggle of the workers and peoples of the member States.
