Class tensions in Europe are rapidly intensifying. The ruling class will not rest until it has imposed the full burden of the international financial crisis on the working class. Its aim is to destroy the social gains of the post-war period and slash wages in Europe to a level comparable with those in China and India.
Greece, where five successive austerity packages have thrown broad layers of the population into unemployment and poverty, is only the beginning. Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia, Romania, Spain and Italy are all being subjected to similar austerity policies.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung noted smugly that since his election last spring, French President François Hollande has undergone a “radical paradigm shift.” His predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, the newspaper commented, talked a great deal about social “reform,” but accomplished little. The new Socialist Party president, on the other hand, has launched significant “reforms”—i.e., attacks on the working class—without making a fuss about it.
Hollande's government has cut labor costs by €20 billion, begun to make the labor market more “flexible,” and resolved to reduce state spending by €12 billion every year. This, however, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, is just the beginning. “The task is to carry through a backlog of reforms going back decades.” Full story...
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Greece, where five successive austerity packages have thrown broad layers of the population into unemployment and poverty, is only the beginning. Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia, Romania, Spain and Italy are all being subjected to similar austerity policies.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung noted smugly that since his election last spring, French President François Hollande has undergone a “radical paradigm shift.” His predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, the newspaper commented, talked a great deal about social “reform,” but accomplished little. The new Socialist Party president, on the other hand, has launched significant “reforms”—i.e., attacks on the working class—without making a fuss about it.
Hollande's government has cut labor costs by €20 billion, begun to make the labor market more “flexible,” and resolved to reduce state spending by €12 billion every year. This, however, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, is just the beginning. “The task is to carry through a backlog of reforms going back decades.” Full story...
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- UK super-rich get richer as pay gap widens...
- France's Francois Hollande: new boss same as the old boss...
- Italian businessman becomes country's 25th 'austerity suicide' of the year...
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