Version imprimableThe examples are plentiful:
* the government made the reform of the early retirement system proposed by the right wing side of parliament a reality;
* the government refused to restore the unemployment benefit – at a great loss for the unemployed;
* the government sent a huge bill to the weakest groups in our society when they adopted their reform of early retirement benefits and the reduced-hour jobs.
Moreover, the government has refined the former government’s cero growth in the public sector and thus has completely refused to fetch funds from the capitalist and the wealthiest citizens in our society. Thus making it impossible to strengthen our welfare system and create jobs. It has become evident that there is a deep-rooted ideological clash of interests between the government and the Red/Green Alliance and other progressive forces concerning the economic policy.
Only if a substantial pressure from outside parliament can be created through protests and mobilizations will it be possible to force through larger or more essential concessions or even induce the government to confront the bourgeois retrenchment and inequality policy. It stands to reason that large parts of the working class, including S-SF voters have been disappointed, but the disappointment has only to a very limited extend been visible in organized protests and movements On the other hand, the two parties have reduced their voters support drastically, but that hasn’t as of yet made S and SF change course.
The government’s cooperation with the right wing side of parliament over a bourgeois policy has not appeased the right wings. On the contrary they have sharpened their liberal and anti-social upper-class policies. The government’s great betrayal is thus that it has prepared for its own electoral defeat and paved the way for an even worse political line than the one we witnessed until 2011. No matter which course the government takes we will continue fighting to defend the working class and people on benefit and to have the bill send to the rich. In the succeeding period of time it is first of all a matter of creating the necessary pressure from voters, movements and grassroots on the government. The Red/Green Alliance does not want to turn over the government, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to save it from committing suicide. To us the actual results are of crucial importance which means we will not give up and we will not leave any attempts undone
In parliament we will use our seats to check the bourgeois initiatives of the government and challenge it to adopt progressive reforms rather than retrogressive reforms.
We call on the government to cancel the many settlements with the bourgeois side of parliament and use the opportunity at its hand which a majority with the Red/Green Alliance is.
We will continue to vote for any improvements of ordinary people’s conditions and vote against any impoverishment.
We call on the government to carry through (though far too late) with a radical break that replaces the VKO (S-SF-R) policy with a solidaric and sustainable policy. We do this, knowing that it will always mean a break with the first 1 1/2 years of governmental procedure.
A state budget is at one and the same time an accumulation of the postponing years’ policy and a budget for the following year. If the necessary ”break” has been carried out that year it will be visible in the budget. And the other way round, a budget without any substantial improvements reflects that the government still follows the old course. That’s why the Red/Green Alliance only votes for a budget which signifies a break of that kind.
So under no circumstances will we vote for a budget that:
* will lead to impoverishment
* does not lead to profound changes for the better
* summarizes a year’s retrenchment policy adopted in cooperation with the right wing side of parliament.
It means that any major settlement with the right wing that leads to impoverishment will lead to enhanced demands from the Red/Green Alliance so that the budget marks a break with the government’s policy so far. If these conditions are met, the Red/Green Alliance can vote for the budget. The final evaluation of whether or not the Red/Green Alliance votes for the budget will furthermore depend on our political and strategic assessment of the current situation.
For instance, the following aspects should be part of that analysis:
* Will our vote for the budget contribute to popular movements’ possibility to create mobilizations and commitment?
* Will our vote for the budget increase the Danish populations’ support to and trust in a progressive socialist policy?
No matter what, a vote for the budget is not the same as support for, acceptance of or consent to the anti-social settlements that the government has made with the right wings during the preceding year. The Red/Green Alliance will whether or not it votes for the budget, continue to fight for a withdrawal of anti-social impoverishments by the right wing and the government. Taking these guidelines as our starting point the Red/Green Alliance will at an early stage present our view of what the 2014 budget should contain and we will encourage grassroots and movements to formulate their demands for the budget.
The Red/Green Alliance does not expect the other parties to join our budget as a whole. We do not demand that all parts of the Red/Green Alliance’s budget become part of a possible settlement. But our entire party – the national executive, members of parliament and the local sections – will make it very clear to the public and the government parties that as a minimum the abovementioned conditions must be met, if the Red/Green Alliance is to vote for the budget.
