MILLIONS AGAINST THE "TROIKA"

Social protests are sweeping more and more countries in the Old World. They are the outcome of dissatisfaction with the economic and immigration policies of the authorities, as well as increasing euroscepticism over the ineffective and at times disastrous activities of the institutions of the European Union, especially in the socio-economic sphere.

Recently the epicentre of the protest actions in the EU, which is in the grip of a financial crisis, has been the Pyrenean countries of Spain and Portugal. The demonstrations there were an expression of displeasure at the economic policy of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU) and the European Central Bank (ECB). It is this "troika" that is insisting that the countries involved in the debt crisis implement the measures of a rigid economy entailing a deterioration in the social situation of a significant section of the population in the "crisis" states. In providing the latter with financial help and at the same time forcing local governments to conduct a policy of a reduction in state spending on social needs, the "troika" is essentially provoking widespread protests.

And so, at protest actions at the beginning of June in major cities and towns of Spain as part of the European initiative of "People united against the 'troika'", there was condemnation of the policy of reduced state spending and increased taxes, leading to an increase in unemployment and a reduction in people's living standards. In Madrid demonstrators bore slogans reading "No to the dictatorship of the 'troika'", "We owe it nothing" and "Everyone to the struggle against the curtailment of our social rights".

There were also strong repercussions following the protests in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany, where access to the headquarters of the European Central Bank was prevented for several days. The police used tear gas to suppress the protests and arrested several hundred people. One of the organizers of the action in Frankfurt was the pan-European Blockupy, which is protesting against the policy of the EU, the ECB and the IMF. In its view, the "troika" is making the European crisis worse in order to get control over the "problem" countries.

Meanwhile, protests were held not only in Frankfurt, which Blockupy called "the heart of the European authoritarian regime", and the "problem" countries of Spain and Portugal, but also in the hitherto relatively calm Switzerland and Sweden which have not been particularly affected by the hardships of the financial crisis. In the Swiss capital of Berne protesters tried to storm the parliament building. It was more than an hour before police, with the help of water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas, managed to drive back the anti-capitalists. During the course of a whole week from the end of May to the beginning of June rallies were also held in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, accompanied by the burning of vehicles and police stations during the night. The Swedish media accused movements upholding the interests of immigrants of organizing the disturbances. 

At a time when protest actions against the policy of the leading financial centres, of which the IMF is undoubtedly the most influential, have become more frequent, a report was published on the three-year period in which aid has been provided to Greece. Analysts of the fund admit that the IMF has underestimated the depth of the crisis that has gripped the Greek economy. As a result, instead of the predicted fall in GDP of 5.5%, by 2012 the country's economy had collapsed by 17%. In other words, the programme of a rigid state economy and a reduction in all kinds of spending that was imposed on Athens has led to unexpected consequences for the IMF. Instead of stabilizing, the Greek economy has found itself in a worse situation. Whereas, as the authors of the IMF report note with satisfaction, "the Greek aid programme" has helped the eurozone "to gain time to create the mechanisms of a struggle against the crisis". In Greece itself, where there has been a sharp reduction in budget spending and an implementation of a series of measures unacceptable to a larger section of the population, a mass protest movement has emerged. However, it is not just Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and other "problem" countries that will in the future be the main hotbeds of social protest that have stirred up crisis-torn Europe. According to a report of the International Labour Organization, because of the ever increasing number of unemployed mass protest actions are threatening to spread to other countries of the EU, with Slovenia and the Czech Republic particularly at risk.

The latter, as the influential Forbes magazine claims, is showing signs of a "recession within a depression". And it was only quite recently that the Czech Republic was being presented as an example of a model country, unquestionably carrying out all the instructions and regulations of the Euro-Atlantic centres, including the "troika" of the IMF, EU and ECB. On joining the European Union and NATO, the Czech Republic has carried out a series of economic reforms according to the recipes of the lovers of a rigid economy at the expense of rolling back social programmes. Thus it has become a shop window for the successful transition from the epoch of "communist gloom" to a "bright liberal future". However, Forbes is now making this conclusion which is depressing for the Czech Republic: by foolishly following the measures of a strict economy, this country is basically incapable of restoring the stable economic growth it had shown up to 2009. And therefore, a continuation of the socio-economic policy will eventually mean "endless stagnation very quickly replaced by a slump".

The development of the European crisis, accompanied by a growth in the protest movements in the EU countries, is reflected in the results of various sociological surveys. Their main conclusion is that the crisis is undermining the confidence of Europeans in the possibility and the very expediency of economic integration and the European project as a whole. Such moods are intensifying in proportion to the tightening of the screws of economic influence by the locomotives of the EU, especially Germany, which is nudging the "second-class" countries of the continent towards the uncomfortable idea that Berlin and the other leading European centres want to take the "weak links" of the European Union under their absolute control. This, in turn, raises the question not only of the future of the European economy, but also the political image of the EU in general.

It is timely to quote in this connection the opinion of the leading Italian politician and journalist, Giulietto Chiesa: "The social situation in Europe is very tense. The source of these events is people's concern for the future. The younger generation, for the first time in the history of contemporary Europe, is realizing that their future will be worse than that of previous generations. This is being felt in Italy, in Spain and in other countries. We are talking essentially about a crisis of the European model of civilization… The old political structures cannot cope with the new challenges."