PORTUGUESE COMMUNIST PARTY

On the victory of the exit from the European Union

In the referendum held in the United Kingdom

The following is the press release issued by the Portuguese Communist Party

THE victory of the exit from the European Union in the referendum held in the United Kingdom is an event of tremendous political magnitude for the people of the United Kingdom and also for the peoples of Europe.

It represents a far-reaching change in the process of capitalist integration in Europe and a new threshold of struggle for those who have, for decades, fought against the European Union of big business and the big powers, and for a Europe of the workers and the peoples.

The British people have decided on the future of their country, in a sovereign way. This fact must be hailed and respected, all the more so, since this referendum was held in the context of enormous and unacceptable pressure and blackmail, namely by the big transnational economic groups and big finance capital, as well as by organisations such as the IMF, OECD and even the European Union itself. This result is therefore also a victory against fear, supposed inevitabilities, submission and catastrophism.

The PCP greets in particular the British Communists and other left-wing forces who – rejecting false dichotomies and opposing reactionary and xenophobic stances – assumed and asserted in the referendum their voice in defense of the values of democracy, labour and social rights, progress, tolerance, solidarity and cooperation between the peoples.

Whilst not ignoring the many motivations that presided over the convening of this referendum, and a campaign that was instigated by elements of a reactionary nature and with overt political manipulation – which the PCP frontally rejects and opposes – the referendum's results express, above all, the rejection of the European Union's policies.

To all those who now irresponsibly promote the idea that these results represent a negative development, the PCP states that the exercise of the democratic and sovereign rights of a people cannot be viewed as a problem. On the contrary, the British referendum reflects serious and deep-rooted problems that have long existed and which are the product of a process of integration that is corroded by contradictions, that is visibly exhausted and which is increasingly coming into conflict with the interests and just aspirations of the workers and the peoples.

The British referendum must therefore be seen as an opportunity to confront and solve the real problems of the peoples, calling into question the entire process of the European Union's capitalist integration and opening up, in Europe, a new and different course of cooperation, social progress and peace.

Any measures or manoeuvres that ignore the political significance of this referendum, that conceal themselves behind the stigmatisation of the British people, that attempt to by-pass or even subvert the will of that people, or which seek to take anti-democratic leaps forward, further concentrating powers within the EU, can only contribute to enhance the problems and contradictions which nourish the development of reactionary and far-right forces and stances, which have been growing in Europe and against which it is necessary to fight. Forces and stances that have had an expression in the British referendum and which feed on the consequences of the European Union's increasingly anti-democratic and anti-social policies of national oppression.

Once the process of detaching the United Kingdom from the European Union begins, the PCP underlines the need for, and importance of, measures and actions within the scope of Portuguese foreign policy which may, within the new context that has now arisen, guarantee national interests, the continuation of mutually advantageous relations of economic cooperation with the United Kingdom, and the interests of the Portuguese who work and live in that country.

The PCP stresses that the forthcoming European Council of June 28 and 29 must, as of now, lay the foundations for the convening of an inter-governmental summit, with a view to enshrining the reversibility of the Treaties, the immediate suspension of the Fiscal Compact and its repeal, as well as the repeal of the Lisbon Treaty.

In a context in which it is undeniably evident that the European Union does not correspond to the needs of the workers and the peoples, the PCP underscores the necessity of courageously confronting the constraints emanating from the process of European capitalist integration, and at the same time, of embarking on a path of cooperation, based on sovereign States with equal rights.

In particular, the PCP stresses the need and urgency of Portugal preparing to free itself from submission to the Euro, which has brought about so much harm to our country, in order to guarantee rights, jobs, production, development and sovereignty.

Communist Party of Greece

On The Result of the Referendum in Britain in Relation

To Britain's Withdrawal from the EU

The following are the excerpts of the press release issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece

THE result of Britain's referendum demonstrates the increasing discontent of the working class and popular forces towards the EU and its anti-people policies. However these forces must disentangle themselves from the choices of sections and political forces of the bourgeoisie and acquire radical and anti-capitalist characteristics. The result records the dissipation of the expectations, which had been fostered by all the bourgeois parties - in Greece as well - together with the EU's mechanisms that the peoples could allegedly be prosperous inside the framework of the EU.

The fact that the issue of the departure of a country from the EU was posed so intensely - and indeed a country the size of Britain - is due on the one hand to the internal contradictions in the EU and the unevenness of its economies and on the other to the confrontation taking place amongst the imperialist centres, which sharpened in the conditions of the economic recession. These factors reinforce the so-called Euroscepticism, break way trends, but also trends that seek a change in the form of political management of the EU and Eurozone.

Vehicles of reactionary "Euroscepticism" are nationalist, racist and fascist parties, like the UK Independence Party of Farage (UKIP), the National Front of Lepen in France, the "Alternative for Germany" and similar formations in Austria, Hungary and in Greece, eg: fascist Golden Dawn, National Unity of Karatzαferis and others. But “Euroscepticism" is also expressed by parties that use a leftwing label, criticise or reject the EU and Euro, support a national currency and seek other imperialist alliances, with a strategy that operates within the framework of capitalism.

These contradictions and antagonisms permeate the bourgeois classes of every EU member-state. The economic and political processes underway, both in Great Britain and in the EU, the negotiations concerning the position of the British bourgeoisie the day after, can lead to new temporary agreements between the EU and Britain. What is certain is that as long as capitalist ownership of the means of production and bourgeois power remain in place, the developments will be accompanied by new painful sacrifices for the working class and popular forces.

The result of Britain's referendum exposes the other political forces in Greece, which glorified Greece's participation in the EU during all the previous years, presenting it as an irreversible process or sowing illusions about the need for even "more Europe of democracy and justice.” It also exposes those forces that consider a national currency as being a panacea that will lead to the people's prosperity. Britain with its Pound Sterling took the same anti-worker and anti-people measures as the other countries that are in the Eurozone. It will continue to take the same measures outside the EU as well, as this is imposed by the need for its monopolies to be competitive and profitable.