The Socialist Workers Party has rejected claims that a ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming re-run of the Nice Treaty referendum is in the interests of the people of the applicant countries.
Ambassadors from seven eastern European states have issued a statement insisting that the treaty will benefit their economies, but SWP spokesman Richard Boyd-Barrett said this is not necessarily true.
“Back in 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down there were similar promises about how the market was going to bring tremendous prosperity to Eastern Europe,” he said.
“That has certainly not come about. In fact, in many cases it has led to much higher levels of unemployment and destruction of many, particularly publicly-owned, industries. I don’t think it will be any different under Nice.”