The Heads of State and Government meet in Brussels on February 11 to discuss the economic strategy of the Union. 

-          Considering the magnitude of the economic, financial and social crisis hitting Greece, Spain, Portugal and other countries like Ireland and Belgium with full force; 

-          Considering that a budget adjustment should not lead to a human or social regression;

-          Considering that since the beginning of the crisis the debt burden has been borne by the state and not by the private sector that created it;

-          Recognizing that States have overwhelmingly supported the banks and the speculative financial system (according to the OECD, the crisis has cost central banks and governments 11,000 billion dollars) without having received any concessions in terms of jobs and wages.

•         Demands that Heads of State and Government refrain from imposing austerity and strict social measures on populations in the name of fiscal consolidation; 

•         Demands that Heads of State and Government refrain from imposing austerity and strict social measures on populations in the name of fiscal consolidation; 

•         Demands the necessary institutional restructuring of the Euro and the international financial system as promised by the G20 and never completed;

•         Demands that Heads of State and Government take concrete steps to put an end to hedge funds, tax havens and tax evasion; tame the derivatives market, and monitor the ratings agencies that continue to take destabilizing decisions;

•         Demands the establishment of alternative mechanisms for ratings agencies on the debt of sovereign states in the public arena; 

•         Demands the replacement of the obsolete Stability and Growth Pact which no country in the Eurozone is able to respect, with a pact of social solidarity for employment and training, combating poverty to ensure a minimum income for all, and ending the flexibilisation of the labour market; 

•         Demands fiscal measures to tax multinational corporations and the movement of speculative capital;

•         Demands the redefinition of the role of the European Central Bank in order to integrate, by driving a new type of credit for sustainable development, employment, training, research, growth objectives, employment and not just price stability.