EU SUMMIT IN VILLACH

ATTAC URGES A SOCIAL EUROPE

By Attac Austria

[This article published on the Attac Austria website, 1/20/2006 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, http://www.attac.at/2399.98html.]



COMPETITION LEADS TO UNEMPLOYMENT – WITHOUT TAXATION OF PROFITS

On the occasion of the meeting of EU labor and social ministers in Villach, the anti-globalization network Attac Austria points to a core contradiction of the union: “The social model is part of the European identity. However the concrete policy of the EU tries to discredit the social model and makes it out to be an unaffordable competition barrier to be dismantled,” says Christian Felber from Attac Austria.

The one-sided orientation of European policy on savings in public budgets and tax- and positional competition puts social standards under pressure again and again. “We witness the paradox that we surrender prosperity and security in favor of competitiveness so this may bring us more prosperity and security,” Felber says…

The employment policy of the EU concentrates on training employees and raising the flexibility of workers. However this alone does not create any jobs. “To create jobs, the profits from the Common Market must be first brought back into the economy as investments. The Union pursues the exact opposite with tax competition. The competition leads to higher unemployment without the recycling of profits,” Felber explains.

Attac urges:

· Ending positional competition. A tax- and social union must follow the currency- and tariff union

· Preservation and development of the European welfare state model in the different forms of member states with rising minimum standards

· Preservation and democratization of public services of life essentials

· Ending the service guideline. The guideline only leads to the race to the bottom. Instead gradual harmonization of the legal systems on the highest level is imperative for reversing job destruction.