East European delegates debate EU enlargement

national | miscellaneous | news report

Thursday October 10, 2002 11:18

by pat c

East European delegates debate EU enlargement Delegates from social partner organisations in eight of the EU applicant countries will discuss the implications of EU integration and enlargement for their members at a meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Friday, October 11. (This is a SIPTU Press Release & was posted to the NO to Nice list by a SIPTU member who is campaigning for a no vote.)

East European delegates debate EU enlargement
Delegates from social partner organisations in eight of the EU applicant
countries will discuss the implications of EU integration and enlargement
for their members at a meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Friday, October
11.

The conference will be addressed by delegates from: Latvia, Estonia,
Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic and Slovenia as well as
Ireland.

SIPTU General President, Des Geraghty, said "this conference will provide an
opportunity for representatives from Central and Eastern Europe to outline
their hopes and concern for the future of Europe. Those hopes hinge on a
positive outcome in the forthcoming referendum on the Nice Treaty where a
yes vote will be a vote for solidarity with workers everywhere."

ICTU General Secretary David Begg added "if Europe is to establish a fairer
balance between the interests of labour and capital, it will undoubtedly
require a relationship between the social partner organisations in the EU.
So this kind of dialogue is an important first step."

Hosted by SIPTU and part funded by the EU Phare Programme, it is intended
that the conference will help build stronger links between union and
employer bodies in Ireland and those of the applicant countries.

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Comments (1 of 1)

Phare: domination of economies through 'humanitarianism'?

by Phuq Hedd

Thu Oct 10, 2002 17:22

For those that don't know what Phare is, it's part of the neoliberal strategy to subordinate the economies of eastern European states as discussed in the book mentioned here:
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=14160

That work suggests that Phare and associated programs have resulted in so-called "humanitarian" aid being channelled into the development of private businesses and the "restructuring" of the economies hosting the parasitic recipient businesses so that their public resources are available for exploitation by the aid "donors". One of the essays contained in the collection discusses how this is similar to certain models of _imperium_ , one of whose important characteristics is the flow of materials from the edges of empire to the center.

The official propaganda site for Phare (and many other EU engorgement programs is here):
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/pas/phare/

One of the main effects of Phare and the associated SAPARD programs is the training and construction of the local bureaucracies to ease the administration of the soon-to-be-added outer colonies of the European Union. This build-up has been occuring as a "pre-accession" process since at least 1998 under this program.

Given that PHARE has spent $11billion in an attempt to access the natural and human resources in eastern Europe why does the Irish electorate think that it has any say on the process? Indeed we could be forgiven for thinking that there are other more unpleasant things contained in the Nice Treaty (such as article 133) that we are being asked to rubber stamp.

Let's say No to Nice! Yes to a socialist Europe with full freedom of travel for EU members, full health care, good schools, and no corrupt capitalists.