Prague Appeal for actions: Peace, Development and Employment with Rights

European Left II Congress, Prague, 25th November 2007: – 14.12.2007


The neoliberal choices resulting by the exigences of the globalised, financial and militarised capitalism lead to intolerable social regression and lead Europe into a dead-end - more than ever, it is time to resist and to open an alternative perspective.

We, the delegates from 29 left parties from all over Europe belonging to the Party of the European Left, gathered in its 2nd Congress to declare our strong will to contribute actively in the European Union, beyond its borders and in the EU Member states to change today European policy for a more democratic and just Europe, committed with the creation of employment and dignified jobs, social protection, ecological development and fight for Peace in the World. That will be the path of our preparations towards the elections of the European Parliament 2009, towards more closer cooperation with all interested in this democratic orientation, peace-defending forces, trade-unions and social movements.

We are the left fighting for full employment, against unemployment and precariousness

The working people of Europe know how their rights have been depreciated, how their jobs have became more insecure and how the age feels after falling in unemployment. In what concerns young people, they also know how to find a job without fixed term is becoming more and more difficult. And also how these jobs become endless in time.
Precariousness is the real condition that characterizes this Europe, despite the fact that in all its documents it refers to social cohesion. With flexicurity we run the risk of a new swindle.
This is the background in which the the recent leaders of Europe want to spread out flexicurity all over Europe. The point here is not the improvement of jobs security but the dismantlement of collective bargaining and the lowering of the legal protection against layoff without fair justification instead.

We are the Left that has been fighting and will continue fighting against Bolkenstein and the privatisation of public services and of common goods, starting from water and energy.
Our first appeal for action is directed to the working people and their organizations: united, we will defeat the attempt to spread out the precarisation of work and flexicutity. In the name of a Europe that doesn’t give away the social rights. In the name of each person’s right to plan his/her life safely.

We are the left that takes climate change seriously and call for urgent action.

The ecologists and scientists have cried into the wilderness for years. At last, their voice is heard. The global warming is clearly close linked to the way of production and consumption of the people. The capitalist way of production is increasing also in these area. Therefore radically lowering the global warming gas emissions has become a question of survival.
The European Left supports all decisions that establish compulsory targets to stop and reverse global warming. We join the demand for a post-Kyoto global framework for action, attaching States to ambitious objectives and imposing penalties in case of non-fulfilment.
But we know that this problem has reached a dramatic dimension today solely because politics dismissed itself and let the market find a solution. The Climate Change combat touches not only the economic dependency from the fossil fuels or reducing energy use but principally the civilization and consumption model of our countries and cities.

Our second appeal for action is directed to those who understand the civilization urgency that Climate Change generates. Our Europe is one of public authorities’ involvement in an environmentally sustainable development. Our Europe is a Europe of renewable energies, which defends Nature and natural resources, of harmonious cities investing in clean public transportation. A Europe with an ecological economy and agriculture, in benefit of the communities and in solidarity with all people on our globe!


We are the Left against war, for peace and disarmament.

Interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq were made in name of democracy and human rights but they only brought forth death, suffering and new conflicts. It’s time to end the occupations if we want to stop the spiral of war and terrorism. It is time to act for peace and for peoples’ rights especially in the Middle East.

There are people in Washington preparing another war, this time against Iran. European governments must reject the bombs approach. Only the denuclearization of the Middle East prevents new military adventures.

The conflict around the Iranian nuclear program can and must be settled through negotiations, in respect for International Law. The language of threats must be abandoned.
Peace must be the official policy of the European Union in the World and also in our continent. The anti-missile system that Washington wants to install in the Czech Republic and Poland is a certificate of underage for Europe and a provocation to Russia. Europeans know what the Cold war was and don’t want it back.

Our third appeal is directed to all Europeans! We have to care about a more peaceful and just world. Fo that we want to have a Europe that refuses the arms race, that is striving and taking full responsibility for for consistent disarmament and conversion. It’s a Europe politically autonomous from the USA,contributing to overcome the thinking in political-military bocks and for the overcoming of existent, a Europe without foreign military bases within its borders.

We are The Left that believes in peoples’ decision

The European governments presented the new text of the Lisbon EU-Treaty as a "Europe’s victory". Unfortunately, it’s not. The Lisbon Treaty is replacing the Nice EU-Treaty and reiterates mainly in essential issues the same which were rejected by the French and Dutch peoples. The text reaffirms the principal policies and the principle of free and distorded competition of the old Treaty for a European Constitution that political, financial and monetary european institutions must apply. The consequences are the precariousness of work and life, the attacks against salaries, social protection and public services.

The real news is that this time the governments truly want to exclude the peoples from the decision. The European Left says NO to the new EU-Treaty. And we call all people in the European Union to acquaint themselves with the EU-Treaty’s contents.
The European Left doesn’t sacrifice democracy with the excuse of difficulties.
As a matter of fact, and on the contrary, we know that Europe’s problems can only be surmounted with more democracy. If the ditch between the elites and the citizens continues to deepen, Europe will fail.
Our fourth appeal for action is with the peoples of the Union: we reject the Lisbon Treaty and we are in favour of referenda allowing for the popular debate about the future of the European project.

We have a Project for Europe

We know that no government change assures by itself a shift in current policies. New horizons of justice demand that the will for change reaches the policies that the European Union has been imposing to our countries.

We want to change Europe

Our Europe is a Europe that guarantees more democracy to Europeans; full employment and social protection to the workers; fight against racism and give the same rights for the immigrants; and equal opportunities and the end of any discrimination against women gays and lesbians.
Our Europe brings solidarity to the regions and respects the diversity of languages and cultures, embraces the adventure of universalism and rejects uniformity. It’s a Europe of freedoms, which no policy conducted in the name of the anti-terrorist war may be able to depreciate.
This Europe commits itself with Peace, with the climate change combat, brings solidarity to the poorer countries and stands for the globalization of human, social and environmental rights. This Europe requires an all-European cooperation and a new Pan-European security system not the expansion of NATO which should be abolished

It’s worthwhile fighting and reinventing hope

The European Left is a network of parties, men and women that face today’s difficulties looking to the future. Together, our parties will develop initiatives around the four compromises for action, according to each one's agendas and current priorities. We invite other activists to participate in these campaigns. We have memory and learn from the past. We renew our common culture. We assume diversity as an asset and not a problem. And we cut across borders because this is a condition for a new left, ready to face the challenges of our times.