Labour missed a golden opportunity to defeat the Tories in parliament last week over the Maastricht agreement. Fiftynine Labour MP's voted against the agreement; if all Labour MPs had done the same the Tories ran the danger of defeat, and the government falling But the Labour leadership - Kinnock, Gould, Smith and the rest - believe the myth that European Monetary Union offers a progressive way forward This is a myth. Monetary union means harmonising budget plans, inflation and interest rates to the deflationary levels laid down by the German Bundesbank. The outcome will be huge cuts in public spending in Britain and throughout the EC.
Faced with the Japanese and US challenge, Europe's bosses are determined to smash the welfare state. Wage increases will have to be held down to meet low-level inflation targets.
Europe's social policy is a myth - it is an anti-social policy which will call the shots.
The new Europe - Fortress Europe - will impose harsh policies against immigrants and asylum seckers. Control will continue in the hands of the unelected and secret Council of Ministers, not the European parliament.
European unity is the way forward, but not unity on the terms prescribed by the mulitnational bosses. Unity on the bosses' terms is being imposed on the people of Europe without them having the right to decide. In Britain and Europe-wide there should be a referendum. The left must fight to reject the carnage of living standards which Maastricht will impose.
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