Contribution of New Communist Party of the Netherlands

The EU and anti-labour policy

Contribution of the NCPN to the meeting of the ECA concerning the anti-labour measures of the EU and governments

Dear comrades,

In our framework, the ECA, the question of the struggle against the imperialist European Union is of the highest importance. Many of our countries’ governments are involved and highly invested in the EU. This is no different in the Netherlands, as the Dutch bourgeoisie is one of the strongest advocates of the imperialist EU and its framework. The Dutch bourgeoisie was involved in the imperialist project from the very beginning, starting with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. It thus exerted its influence from an early moment. Dutch capital, together with French and German capital, was able to profit majorly from the extension of the European Coal and Steel Community which later became the EU, as it opened markets to the south and east, and provided labour for the Dutch economy. It is unfortunate for us as Dutch communists that in one our cities, Maastricht, the EU was formally established.

The EU is promoted by our governments as a union of friendly countries that simply wish to cooperate, a framework which promotes peace, democracy, and economic growth. Lenin taught us that these phrases are often used to justify quite its opposite reality: “Freedom” is a grand word, but under the banner of freedom for industry the most predatory wars were waged, under the banner of freedom of labour, the working people were robbed. In fact, the EU is an imperialist union, a framework for capitalist states seeking to promote the interests of their monopolies through the framework of the EU.

Indeed, the reality of the EU for the working people is quite different from what our bourgeois governments promote in their propaganda. The promise of shared prosperity and economic growth are only realities for the monopolies of the EU. The working class and other oppressed layers of society have only seen their position deteriorate under the imperialist EU.

The EU promotes the increased exploitation of the working class in the name of “competitiveness”. It oppresses and slanders the opposition to this exploitation by oppressing trade union actions and by spreading anticommunism, by equating it with fascism.

As in all member states, in the Netherlands the EU promotes and deepens the so-called “flexibilization” of labour relations. Non-permanent contracts, insecurity and lack of protection from dismissal have become the norm. Many people face unemployment. In particular, people on flexible contracts easily find themselves out on the street in any economic setback on the streets. 4 out of 10 workers in the Netherlands now have non-permanent contracts.

The EU promotes the destruction of social rights. The public character of the social security system, the healthcare and the pension system is being increasingly dismantled. The contributions of the capitalists and the state to these provisions are increasingly restricted. Workers must bear all the costs. Publicly regulated social security is increasingly giving way to individual insurance policies that workers must take out with private insurers. Meanwhile, the privatization of healthcare provision is also being promoted. Not the welfare of the population, but 'cost-effectiveness' and 'competitiveness' are the yardsticks used by the EU. The result of flexibilization and the demolition of social rights is that 22% of the population and a quarter of all children in the EU live in poverty. In the Netherlands hundreds of thousands of workers and their children live below the poverty line.

In the Netherlands, there is an understanding amongst the working class that the EU is not a mechanism that works in their favour. This popular anger against the EU, however, channels itself primarily through votes for the fascistoid “Eurosceptics”, such as Geert Wilders and his so-called Party for Freedom. In reality, these forces are perfectly compatible with the imperialist framework of the EU. They simply seek to reform the EU along their own political lines, targeting migrants to divide the working class. This is proven by the recent decision by Wilders to abandon the so-called “Nexit” position, the exit of the Netherlands out of the EU, in order to be able to govern the country in a new bourgeois coalition.

We see that EU border policies have moreover become increasingly stringent, focusing on selective admission based on economic necessity for capital rather than humanitarian considerations, resulting in dire conditions for migrants and refugees seeking asylum. The Dutch bourgeoisie, from all political colours, bear the responsibility of supporting this anti-migrant policy following the logic of competitiveness of EU capital.

Dutch capital has profited for many years off migrant workers. For example, many Eastern European workers have by their sweat created the huge profits of the so-called “jewel” of Dutch agro-industry, the greenhouse horticulture. Many migrant workers are also employed in other sectors such as the transportation sector, the meat industry and cleaning companies. Often, these workers work through employment agencies which pay them below the minimum wage, charge them high costs for housing and healthcare, and, when these workers are fired, kick them out on the streets. Such is the reality of the well-praised agreements of the “Schengen” type - the EU uses “open borders” when it concerns migrant workers they deem fit for exploitation, and “closed borders” when they deem them unfit as targets for exploitation, letting them drown in the sea.

It is clear that the EU serves the interests of capital. Therefore, the demand to exit the EU should be linked to the struggle for a different organisation of the economy and society. Stepping out of the EU must be accompanied by the abolition of capitalist ownership, socialisation of the means of production and building socialism. Leaving the eurozone or the EU while maintaining capitalism will not mean that the breakdown of social and labour rights will cease, nor will it result in real improvements and reduction of the exploitation of the workers. Exiting the EU is therefore not an end in itself, and the working class should not be led astray by false oppositions, such as whether they prefer to be exploited in euros or in guilders, as the dilemma is posed in the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, the NCPN is the only party fighting for the Netherlands to leave all imperialist alliances such as the EU and NATO. It is our duty to expose the anti-worker character of the EU and to rally the Dutch working class against the EU and capitalism, in favour of a different system without exploitation, socialism-communism.