No threat, no blackmail: let the people speak!


“Accept austerity or face chaos”. This is the message sent by European leaders – such as José Manuel Barroso, Angela Merkel, Mario Draghi – to the Irish and Greek peoples.

Until now, austerity forever has been adopted by Europe's elite without any democratic debate, despite protests rising all over Europe to denounce these dangerous, unfair, absurd policies leading Europe to recession and social crisis.

Now that the votes in Greece and Ireland question this orientation, threats of isolation and of economic disaster are used to blackmail the people. While for European leaders, belonging to the Eurozone mean accepting austerity, it is more than ever clear that we have to break with the neoliberal monetary order and with the domination of banks and the financial markets.

If they choose to break free from the chains of austerity, Irish and Greek people should know that they are not alone. We, citizens of other European countries, will probably not be asked. But our thoughts are with them, since their votes could advance a break with the anti-social and anti-democratic drift of European policies and be the first steps to build real European alternatives to the crisis.

It is high time we put an end to austerity in Europe. We must stop the EU's strategy in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and reject the Fiscal Pact! We need change in Europe!

European Attac Network

First signatories: Attac Norway, Attac Finland, Attac Denmark, Attac Iceland, Attac Poland, Attac Wallonia, Attac Greece, Attac Germany, Attac France, Attac Austria, Attac Spain, Attac Portugal.