Housing, social progress & defeating fascism. Local communities for another Europe
Call for an European Antifascist and Antiracist Front
We participants to the REALPE Annual meeting , local representatives and MEPs declare:
The recent rise of right wing nationalist and extreme-right parties across Europe is a preoccupying situation for our continent.
During the crisis the recent years, the policies applied by the European Union through the neoliberal and conservative governments especially from the EPP guidance has been pushing dangerous voices to arrive to the European political scene and as a phenomenon we can see today all over the EU an increased outreach of extreme-right and fascist forces.
Our forces will stand:
-next to the refugees and migrants in solidarity with them,
-with peace
-next to women’s rights
-next to all oppressed communities such as LGBTQI and Roma.
-next and together to all social movements, political organizations, and associations that fight for the abolition of social and economic inequalities in our municipalities
We, participants of the REALPE Annual Meeting, declare our intention to create a European Antifascist and Antiracist Front starting from our municipalities and regions to be at the forefront of our struggles the forthcoming period.
Brussels, 8 February 2019
Declaration for a real right to housing across Europe
Housing is undergoing an unprecedented offensive by neoliberal and capitalist policies aimed at regulating everything by the law of the market. While having a roof should be considered as a fundamental right, there are currently millions of people who are in a situation of social exclusion. Women, large or single-parent families and migrants are even more vulnerable to this situation. While in rural areas city centers are experiencing desertification, in large cities tens of thousands of people are waiting to be able to benefit from social housing. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of homes are currently vacant and speculation is becoming the norm. Expulsions are multiplying as mortgage funds and giants such as Airbnb want to make housing a speculative value free from taxation.
Because we are witnessing a new crisis today, we, participants to REALPE Annual Meeting, local elected representatives and MEPs declare:
– That access to housing must be considered as a fundamental and inalienable right
– That for this reason housing must be removed from the market and speculation of the ultra-liberal system by a rents control framework, a requisition of vacant housing and an end to the eviction of the most modest homes.
– That the development of public housing and a social housing status in Europe must be a priority and that national and European public funds should be invested in the construction and rehabilitation of buildings in social housing.
– That binding legislation against financial speculation and tax evasion including mortgage funds and multinationals such as Airbnb must be put in place
– That the fight against gentrification on the one hand and against the desertification of rural areas on the other hand must be led by the construction of a true social diversity and the rehabilitation of buildings on the other hand.
Because access to housing is a fundamental condition of human dignity, we are committed to making it a struggle everywhere in Europe
REALPE Annual Conference:
Thursday 7 February
13.30 entrance of participants
14.30: Introduction of the conference by Gabi Zimmer, president of GUE-NGL
15.00: First panel: social housing and speculation
Introduction by MEP Martina Michels: Die Linke, Germany
15.00-15.10: introduction
15.10-16.30 : Speakers (5 to 7 minutes each)
– Françoise Desmedt, Brussels MP PTB, Belgique
– Nasos Iliopoulos, Athens candidate mayor, Vice-Minister of Employment, Greece
– Ms Katalin Gennburg, Member of the Berlin parliament, Group’s spokesperson on urban development, smart city and tourism; DIE LINKE, Germany
– José Moury, municipal councillor at Bobigny and responsible for the housing group of ANECR (Association Nationale des Elus Communistes et Republicain), PCF France
– Emma-Lina Johansson, city councillor of Malmö, Sweden,
– Mark Ward, Mayor of South Dublin City Council, Sinn Féin Ireland
– María Chao, municipal councillor of As Pontes, Galicia
– Mercedes Revuelta, Activist of the Platform of Mortgages Affected Peoples and the platform Against Vulture Funds, Spain
16.30-17.00: coffee break
17.00-18.00: debate moderate by MEP Malin Björk: Left Party, Sweden
18.00-18.30: conclusions of the panel by MEP Lynn Boylan: Sinn Féin, Ireland
18.30-19.30: Cocktail in JAN 3Q Brasserie
Friday 8 February
8.30-8.45: entrance of visitors
9.00-12.30 Second Panel: Facing inequalities and raising up of fascism across Europe, which progressist vision for our cities and local communities
9.00-9.15: Introduction by Vice President of EP Dimitris Papadimoulis: Syriza, Greece
9.15-10.30 speakers (5 to 7 minutes each)
– Giusto Catania, Municipal councillor in Palermo, former GUE/NGL MEP, Italy
– Katerina Notopoulou, Thessaloniki candidate mayor, Vice-Minister of Macedonia-Thrace, Greece,
– Ignacio Iglesias Villar, city concellor of Teo, Galicia
– Nazanin Armanian, analyst of international conflicts and the Islamic world
– Stavros Yerolatsites, AKEL, Cyprus
– Enrique Oubiña, municipal councillor of Ribadumia, Galicia
– A representative from Naples City, Italy (tbc)
10.30-11.00: coffee break
11.00-12.00: debate moderate by MEP Marie-Christine Vergiat (tbc): Front de Gauche, France
12.00-12.15: conclusions of the debate by MEPAngela Vallina (tbc): IU, Spain
12.15-12.45:
General Conclusions of the initiative by MEP Lidia Senra (tbc):Galicia
For more information please contact:charlotte.balavoine@europarl.europa.eu
