LET'S CHANGE EUROPE

In the midst of a crisis that threatens the very existence of the euro, the EU is about to take decisions that will seriously affect the future of Europe and its economy. The so-called economic governance package, now on the table, is an unprecedented challenge to the basic values and principles that underlie our shared future: solidarity, social justice, equal opportunities and sustainable development.

Ideological choices – to be taken in the name of the budget discipline needed in a time of crisis – will endanger both social cohesion between Europeans and our ability together to bring about an ecological transformation of our economies. In particular, these choices run the risk of sacrificing a whole generation of young people in a good number of member states. These young people are hit very hard by unemployment. They feel more and more excluded and rejected instead of being able to play a full part in building their own future.

It is clear to us that ensuring the sustainability of public finances is a vital political objective. Public finances are a key tool for advancing common interests such as social cohesion or environment protection. It is true that the present crisis has very significantly damaged public finances in Europe. Even if the public sector must bear its share of the responsibility, its causes are to be found first and foremost in the private sector: widening of the pay gap, excessive private debt and speculative bubbles created by an irresponsible financial industry.

The measures that have been announced do not respond to these difficulties. On the contrary, they are unfair, inefficient and inappropriate.

By breaking from the idea of a shared future, they push us back to a time we thought had gone forever – a time of fierce nationalism, screaming social injustice and extremism of all kinds. These measures will turn the economic crisis into a political one.

European citizens need to wake up while there is still time to act. They need to renew their commitment to Europe's founding values in the spirit of a proactive, shared future.

Our societies will not survive years of economic and social decline brought about by blind austerity policies. This logic would leave it mainly to wage earners to bear the weight of the crisis by accepting pay cuts. Let us instead learn together the real lessons of the crisis. Speculators all over the place have thrived in the absence of rules and strong surveillance mechanisms. Forcing European governments to take a severe dose of austerity medicine and tackling salaries will make this fragility worse instead of curing it. On top of that, trying to toughen sanctions on this basis will simply feed hostility between countries. The euro zone must defend its common currency and it must without question support members facing difficulties, for this is vital for the whole of Europe.

It is time for the conservative majorities in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, to see the error of their ways. In these difficult times for European citizens, we need to show daring and imagination by coming forward with a fresh and original political response.

It is possible to regain control of public finances without killing our economic development or investment in areas such as education, research or renewable energy and without feeding social injustice and exclusion. It is possible to find the necessary budgetary room for manoeuvre by being innovative and brave. For that to happen, all EU member states must first play their part in this common effort — those countries with surpluses as much as those with trade deficits. All countries must protect productive public investment from budgetary austerity. They should create Eurobonds to absorb some of the member states' debt and cut the overall cost. They should also put in place the basis of a common European fiscal policy to ensure fair, efficient and lasting receipts.

This is about reducing the fiscal burden on income from work and increasing it on income from capital. It is about fighting tax fraud effectively, creating a genuinely environment friendly tax system and, finally, introducing a financial transaction tax. European governments need to ensure that high salaries and income from capital contribute fairly to the general effort at budgetary consolidation, to avoid the burden falling on those with low- or middle-range incomes.

This is by no means about coming up with simplistic or irresponsible solutions but about putting an economic modernisation plan on the road, with the help of responsible, balanced and intelligent policies that fully respect the values that underpin the European project. They are about finding smart, responsible policies that fully respect the values that underpin the European project.

We appeal to all those who share our convictions to campaign with us and, by signing this appeal, to give Europe a different policy for escaping from the crisis – a policy that will strengthen it, not weaken it even more.

6 June 2011