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The PTB-PVDA calls for the immediate appointment of a national commissioner to accelerate the fight against the coronavirus in our country. According to the left party, such a commissioner is needed to break the institutional and economic straitjacket that currently prevents the necessary measures from being taken to curb the epidemic in depth.

On Sunday, March 8, throughout Belgium and around the world, thousands of women stood up to make their voices heard. From Charleroi, to Ostend, via Liège, Brussels, Ghent, Namur, Mons, Kortrijk and Leuven. Women everywhere stood up to say STOP to pay inequalities, STOP to violence against women and to the many forms of discrimination still all too present in our society. (Photo: 10,000 demonstrators in Brussels)

On Sunday 1 March, at the initiative of the PTB-PVDA, more than 10,000 people gathered in the streets of Brussels for the "Great Anger" , the march for a change in politics.

Given the public health emergency linked to the Coronavirus and Covid-19, the European meeting Fight 4 Pensions planned for Saturday 4th April in Brussels, has been postponed to Sunday 20th September, as part of the programme of the solidarity festival ManiFiesta. The same extraordinary panel of speakers is invited. We will keep you posted of further developments as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding. For more information please follow: https://www.fight4pensions.eu

Head-on attacks on public pension schemes are a reality in many EU member states. In Spain, the pensioners' struggle began in 2011 and is still ongoing. Every Monday, Spanish pensioners take to the streets. They celebrate the "Mondays in the Sun" to demand fair pensions. (Photo: meeting at Baracaldo, Bilbao.)

Throughout the European Union, national governments are attacking the most solidarity-based pension systems. A coordinated attack from the European institutions. A quick look at Spain, France and Germany.

In April 2017, the Croatian government published a "pension reform programme" aimed at increasing the retirement age from 65 to 67 and tightening the conditions for early retirement. This programme has been approved by Parliament. Not by the workers, however, who have forced the government to back down. Background of a victory. (photo : Ivan Blazevic, responsible for the campaign in the city of Crikvenica. D.R.)

Zelzate is a small municipality (12,700 inhabitants) in East Flanders. It is also the only municipality in Belgium governed by a left-wing majority, from the PTB-PVDA with the sp.a (social-democrats). This majority has opted for new investments, a fairer distribution of charges and more participation. A "fair tax shift" is at the centre of Plan for the Future: large companies and multinationals will contribute more, citizens and small enterprises less. (photo : "I support the fair Tax-shift in Zelzate")

Hundreds of Belgians (amongst them 150 members of the PTB-PVDA) went to Lille on Saturday 11 January for the demonstration against the pension reform project of Macron. The battle of the French workers is also the battle of all workers in Europe. Working longer for less money, we don’t want this at all.

French workers are fighting against Macron's pension reform. In Belgium, we have pushed back the previous government of Charles Michel and its points-based pension. In Spain, it is the "pensionistas" who march every Monday demanding dignified pensions. In Croatia, the trade unions have obtained the return of the legal retirement age from 67 to 65... This struggle in defence of our pensions is sweeping through many European countries. Coincidence?

One loaf of bread a month. This is what the employers are willing to "offer" to the 140,000 household helpers working in the service voucher sector. Yet another sign of contempt. The response is therefore action. On November 28th, 2019, the first action of a long struggle carried by household helpers was held in Brussels.

What to wish for 2020 ?