Left-wing members of parliaments in EU member states have met with their counterparts in the European Parliament as part of the European Parliamentary Week 2019.

In the course of their discussions about the situation in the EU, participants from AKEL (Cyprus), Bloco de Esquerda (Portugal), DIE LINKE (Germany), Syriza (Greece) and Levica (Slovenia) reaffirmed their opposition to neoliberal austerity policies imposed through the Stability and Growth Pact, the Fiscal Compact and the European Semester.

They underlined that these policies have impoverished EU citizens, contributed to rising inequality and unemployment, pushed for privatisation of public wealth and fuelled the rise of the far right.

Participants criticised as anti-democratic the way in which the event was structured, in particular the limited speaking time afforded to national MPs.

Together, they reaffirmed a commitment to struggle against neoliberal austerity policies – within and outside of Parliaments – alongside workers, social movements and trade unions.

Because of the expected shift to the right in the next European Parliament, a strong Left is needed to fight neoliberalism, the far right and racist and xenophobic forces.