After the welcome speech by the Communist Party of Wallonia in the Executive Board meeting in Brussels, Pierre Laurent, the newly elected EL President, affirmed that following the success of our 3^rd congress, it is time to put in action what was decided: “The urgency of the crisis imposes us to act rapidly and efficiently concerning the party political decisions and the execution of our first campaign: the creation of a Fund for Social Development and Solidarity”, trough the Citizens’ Initiative instrument. This new tool approved by the Council and the European Parliament will be implemented by the party in its own way, giving the chance to open a public debate that can end with the adoption of a new political/legislative proposal of one million citizens by the EU.

The creation of the proposed fund offer low rate or even no interest loans for public investments meant to create employment, develop formation, research, public services, useful infrastructures and environmental projects.

After Greece, Portugal has also entered in the cyclone under an enormous pressure of the EU to accept the so called “aid plan”. It is the role of the European Left to impede our countries from entering in the dangerous “mechanism” and to give solutions based in a real restructuration. The EL Campaign needs the involvement of citizens to be in the centre of the change and for proving that a legitimate alternative exists.

During the next two years, the European Left will be engaged and, even if the collection of signatures for the European’s Citizen will only start in November, the sensibilisation and information campaign will proceed immediately with a certain number of actions in six or seven Member states. In March, the first public initiative of this campaign will take place in Athens, to symbolically show the EL solidarity with a country that is in such a sensitive position after the austerity measures imposed by the government and the IMF. An experts meeting in Portugal about the new instrument addressed to European citizens will precede the six initiatives that will happen in Greece, Hungary, Spain, France, Italy and Germany to make the diffusion of the proposal to citizens.

 “The Eurobonds and the initiative of Papandreou cannot solve the problem of markets primacy and would have a perverse effect, the ability to distribute funds has to be aligned with the differences between northern and southern countries, solidarity is the basic point in this moment”, the vice President Alexis Tsipras declared.

“The initiative and the alternative from the European Left has to be inclusive, not forgetting the women, the youth and the migrants, who have been so affected by the crisis”, the vice president Maite Mola added.

 “We should act with concrete actions and common positions in the public space in this urgent times, dealing with all the political actors, and in particular with the trade unionists. The Citizens Initiative is a tool and should be used as a tool to reach our purposes”, the vice president Marisa Matias considered.

Felix Cardenas, Bolivia's Vice-Minister of Decolonization, was warmly welcomed in the Executive Board meeting. He said that indigenous peoples’ vision and relation to nature and Mother Earth should serve as a model to the big challenges that we’re facing. To conclude, Mr. Cardenas called for a global perspective that views the world as one and integrates issues such as environment, land and water.