The following resolution was discussed and adopted as policy by the Swansea Branch of the WSA. Informal discussions with other left forces have begun and are ongoing. Please contact us if you wish to take part in these discussions.

Motion on the Euro referendum

  This WSA branch notes:

  1 The intention of New Labour to hold a referendum on joining the euro.

 2 That the majority of big business is in favour of joining the euro.

  3 The Maastricht Treaty regulates government debt and therefore restricts welfare spending and economic m easures designed to counter unemployment.

  4 The undemocratic and unaccountable nature of European Union institutions and in particul ar the power and unaccountability of the ECB.

  This WSA branch believes:

  1 That the Euro project is an attempt to advance de-regulation, privatisation and the neo-liberal economic model across Europe.

  2 That control of the labour market is crucial to the success of the euro and therefore necessitates the construction of a 'fortress Europe' through the imposition of draconian immigration controls.

  3 That there are ongoing attempts to co-ordinate the military apparatus of the EU in order to bolster military      interventions on a global scale.

 4 The rise of anti-capitalist and trade union opposition to the EU under the slogan of 'for workers Europe not a    bosses Europe'.

  5 The internationalist and socialist policy on Europe requires open borders, and end to NATO, and solidarity with all anti-capitalist forces on whatever continent they arise.

  6 European integration, through the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties, is the central project of the European employers. It is an anti-working class project aimed at increasing the exploitation of the European workers in order that European capital can compete more effectively in world markets. For this it needs to maximise job flexibility and insecurity and increase the power of the bosses in the work place. Tony Blair is collaborating with Berlusconi and Anzar to this end. It involves the reorganisation and rationalisation of capital across Europe to the advantage of big business and the multi-nationals and the destruction of jobs in the process.

  This WSA branch resolves:

  1 To campaign in any referendum on the demands 'for a workers Europe not a bosses Europe', 'No to the Euro' and 'No to Fortress Europe'.

  2 To seek to campaign with other left forces opposed to the euro on a similar basis.

  3 To oppose anti-European arguments based on nationalism, xenophobia or sovereignty.

  4 To defend the interests of the working class against what is a hostile project of the employers.

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