Peter Mertens: "We need a socialist Europe that breaks with war and imperialism".

Dear friends, dear comrades,

After the victory over fascism in 1945, everyone agreed: "nie wieder", "never again", "plus jamais". There was also agreement on the need to eradicate the roots of militarism. At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Allies applied the doctrine of the five Ds: democratise, decentralise, demilitarise, denazify and demonopolise.

There was a consensus: the omnipotence of the big monopolies had to be broken, because there was a link between capitalism, monopolies, expansion, militarism, fascism and war.
Today, we are witnessing the opposite movement: instead of democratisation, authoritarianism is on the rise; instead of decentralisation, European centralisation is gaining ground; instead of demilitarisation, a veritable militaristic fever has set in; and instead of demonopolising, Europe encourages the formation of monopolies. 

This is the exact opposite of Yalta.

The European Union was built through shocks and crises. And with each crisis, we observe the same phenomenon: more and more power is centralised in Brussels, and with each centralisation, the contradictions in Europe get worse.

This was the case with the banking crisis in 2008, the Euro crisis in 2011, the Covid crisis in 2020, and the war in Ukraine in 2022. They always follow the same old recipe: through emergency measures, more power is transferred to Brussels.

Today, it is security policy that receives the same treatment. Defense policy is the responsibility of sovereign states, but it is being "Europeanised" at breakneck speed. First with symbolic funds, then with the 800 billion euro "Rearm Europe" plan as a turbocharger.
As centralisation increases, so do the contradictions.

Germany militarises through debt: it wants to create the largest land army in Europe and start spending 153 billion euros a year on its army within four years. No one can keep up with this pace: France stalls at 64 billion a year. It becomes smaller, but still boasts nuclear weapons. The contradictions between France and Germany deepen.

These are the two dynamics we observe in every crisis: ever more power in Brussels, and ever more contradictions between states at the same time.

Added to this is our dependence on the United States. When Trump threatened to seize Greenland, panic swept through Brussels. "We need an autonomous Europe, independent of the United States," they said.

Absolutely. Europe must break with the United States. But that is not enough. Because the question is: what for?
We don't need a European army that does exactly the same thing as the American army: intervene around the world to secure raw materials and supply routes.

We don't have to send frigates to the Persian Gulf or Asia-Pacific to control supply routes. We don't have to send tanks to the Sahel or the Congo to plunder cobalt. We don't have to send drones to Niger to secure uranium for French nuclear power plants.

European autonomy does not mean building a European imperialist army.

We don't just need an autonomous Europe, but above all we need a different Europe.
We need a socialist Europe that breaks with war and imperialism.
We need to use plain language. 

This system is barbaric, belligerent, perverse. It wants to dismantle our pensions, healthcare, education and public services to build a war machine. It wants to send a new generation of young people to war. It wants to promote racism and apartheid to sow division.
That is not the future we want.

Socialism is the future, and we are proud to be the forces of that future. We need to embody this confidence and pride. We have to want to win, comrades. We have to want to win the world, and show it.

Thank you very much.