Speaking during this morning's Parliamentary debate on the results of the recent European Council and the results of the Van Rompuy-led Task Force on economic governance, Portuguese GUE/NGL MEP Ilda Figueiredo (Portugal) said "Today, in Portugal, we are experiencing the biggest general strike in 20 years. This struggle follows other very important actions in several EU countries such as Greece and France."  And what is the response of the leaders of the Council and the European Commission?, she asked.

"They ignore the protests to their anti-social policies and insist on the same policies that contributed to the situation we are now experiencing. They are turning a blind eye to what led to the vulnerability of the euro and are following exactly the same policies that they practised before: the liberalization of capital markets, financial speculation without any limit, the requirement of a nominal convergence through the Stability Pact, while the real divergence of economies deepens, unemployment and poverty is reaching unbearable levels and social tensions are increasing."

MEP Figueiredo concluded by asking: "why do they continue to insist on this path? What more must be done to break with these policies, to focus on production, increasing employment and enhancing  work?"

 
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