Version anglaise de la lettre de Marie-Noëlle Lienemann aux irlandais
Dear Irish Friends,
I thank you for your kind invitation and regret being unable to be with you today.
I would have liked to be able to come on May 29 - exactly three years to the day after my fellow citizens voted "No" in the referendum on the proposed European Constitution - and talk with you, explaining the reasons that brought committed European leftists, members of the French Socialist party, to reject that proposed European Constitution.
There are many of us on the left, in Europe - and especially in France - who hope your people will vote "No" in the referendum on the proposed Treaty of Lisbon and that your rejection will allow a profound reorientation in the construction of Europe to take place.
First of all, let's be clear: this treaty is the identical twin of the Constitution the French as well as the Dutch rejected. It is presented differently, but the text, apart from a few minor nuances, is identical, especially with respect to the major issues that justified our "No."
We refuse to reinforce a certain idea of European construction that, as it progressively imposes itself, simultaneously moves us away from the intentions of Europe's Founding Fathers. This new construct is the constitution of a vast free trade zone (without political power and without any democratic power to arbitrate, to regulate, or to act in the economic, social, or monetary spheres), a space of general competition that - instead of organizing solidarity between countries, regions, and workers - enshrines permanent competition, competition which opposes peoples rather than uniting them, as the essential communal value.
We do not agree to enthrone the European Central Bank's omnipotence over the long term. The ECB, the most independent central bank in the world, decides monetary policy - so important for our industry (and especially our exports) and our economy - totally on its own. Additionally, we do not agree that the ECB should be given a mandate that is virtually entirely inflation fighting, totally neglecting growth and employment. We desire the creation of a European economic government able to weigh in on the ECB's decisions and able to better coordinate our policies in the service of growth. None of that is in the treaty! On the contrary, it's quite the reverse!
There's also nothing in it about social convergence that would allow a progressive harmonization of basic social standards such as the minimum wage towards the top. There's nothing against social and fiscal dumping within the Union. The unanimous vote required on fiscal matters constitutes an unacceptable blockage: it dooms any action for the fair distribution of wealth the left is so particularly committed to. This dissymmetry between the recognition accorded the dogma of "free and undistorted competition" - put forward as an intangible principle - and the rejection of any tool for regulation and redistribution prepares a disquieting future for us, one with growth in inequality and poverty.
The text of the treaty amplifies unregulated free trade between the European Union and the rest of the world by hardening the Treaty of Rome in a still more ultra free market direction. The words "and other" are added to the treaty's initial text (article 10A) toward the end of the phrase "the Union gradually contributes to deletions of the limitations in international trade and in direct investments as well as in the reduction of tariff barriers," which amounts to denying the Union the possibility of making its trade conditional on respect for rigorous environmental or social norms. Anyone can see that this constitutes a significant brake to fighting against climate change or to implementing chemical product regulation since without the related requirements at our borders, our companies could reject ambitious regulations, relocate, or outsource!
The same deal obtains for public services, which are not defended in any way and run the risk of disappearing in favor of a generalized competition: this could even affect health!
It is clear that this new treaty turns its back on any prospect of a more socially just, more socially cohesive Europe and does not really enhance the democratization of institutions that would allow the Union's citizens to make themselves better heard.
So now, the Irish hold the possibility of forcing European institutions to rethink our common future in new terms in their hands. A "No" from your country would undoubtedly necessitate that, within our Member States, voice be given once again to their citizens. Otherwise, the same decision-makers who have imposed anti-social and bureaucratic choices on us for years will be able to continue to create Europe without its peoples, and sometimes even against them.
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Marie-Noëlle Lienemann is a Socialist deputy to the European Parliament, vice president of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and first deputy to the Mayor of Hénin-Baumont (Pas-de-Calais).
Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.
