The Communist Party of Greece never misses an opportunity to denounce the fact that the capitalist mechanism and police state being built up by the European Union are capitalist society's response to the rising tide of protest and demands for justice being generated by its own anti-grass roots policy of serving the interests of big business. The leaders of the ΕU know full well that, despite their efforts, they cannot fool the people by cloaking their policies in pro-grass roots terms. This tactic was on a slow but sure course up to 11 September. Now, the horrendous events of that day are being used as a pretext to speed up the application of political decisions taken long ago. The perpetrators of and accessories to the terrorist attacks have played straight into the hands of the American and European imperialists. Which is why we are now examining, for the second time, the improved proposals for a Council framework decision on combating terrorism and on the European arrest warrant, the heavy artillery in the capitalist arsenal. Basically nothing has changed in the draft decisions, apart from a few editorial improvements to appease the reactions, and the addendum stating that 'the European Union is founded on the universal values of human dignity, liberty, equality, solidarity and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; it is based on the principles of democracy and the Rule of Law'. The pure hypocrisy of this statement is highlighted by the fact that the framework decisions deal a very severe blow to democracy and collective and individual social rights. According to article 1, anyone fighting for fundamental political and social change can easily be labelled a terrorist. Types of protest, such as symbolic sit-ins, or the results of protests, such as interruptions to the electricity or water supply when workers go on strike, need only cause 'significant economic losses' in order to be labelled terrorist crimes. The same applies to protests by farmers who block the roads. Extending the responsibilities of the organisations to which the 'terrorists' belong may create a handy mechanism for prosecuting troublesome organisations and parties but it also gives them the incentive to engage in provocation. The only people above all suspicion are the rulers of the ΕU and the USA. They are in no danger of being tried on the basis of their own law, which labels acts which may 'seriously damage' the country as terrorist acts if the perpetrator carries them out with a view to: (i) seriously frightening the people or (ii) unreasonably forcing the public authorities or an international organisation to carry out or refrain from carrying out an act or (iii) seriously destabilising or overturning the fundamental policies or constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or international organisation. Did the European and American imperialists do any less or any different in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chile, Greece and dozens of other countries? The people throughout the world know exactly who the terrorists are. Likewise, they also know that violence and suppression cannot reverse the historic advance of mankind and they will continue their fight until all the terrorist laws have been repealed. It is for these reasons that the MEPs of the Communist Party of Greece voted against the report.

Political group: GUE-NGL