GUE/NGL will not back EU 2020’s anti-social policies

THE European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group in the European Parliament – of which Bairbre de Brún is a member – has criticised the European Union’s 2020 strategy as the sort of “anti-social policies” that have contributed to the crisis rather than solutions.
GUE/NGL President Lothar Bisky (Germany) was critical of the strategy:
“Clearly it had not come up with solutions for people in the throes of crisis, quite the opposite. Instead, these are the same kind of policies that have contributed to this crisis.
“What we are looking at here is a tightening of the Stability and Growth Pact and providing it with better sanctioning mechanisms.
“We’re looking at cuts: cuts to pensions, people having to work longer, wage restraint and wage cuts when what we should be talking about are the needs of people.
“Economic Governance, the Annual Growth Report, the 2020 Strategy, the Stability Pact and the Competitiveness Pact all contain anti-social policies that my Parliamentary group will not support.”
In addition, Lothar Bisky condemned the European Union for “withdrawing into the politics of secrecy” with decisions being taken behind closed doors. “Nobody wants to go back to this way of doing business.”