Jean Lambert, the Green Party's MEP for London and national spokesperson on social affairs, is today supporting her fellow MEPs from the Greens/EFA group [1] as they take to the streets in the demonstration against austerity measures in Brussels today, as part of the wider European Day of Action.
The Greens will join with workers from across Europe to protest against the austerity measures recently adopted by many European countries and calling for investment in employment creation.
Jean said: "The savage cuts we have seen replayed again and again across Europe will not only hit the most vulnerable the hardest, but risk dragging us back into a double-dip recession.
"In the UK, the coalition Government has presented these cuts as an economical inevitably. They are not.
"They are an ideological choice that will serve to widen inequality by disproportionately affecting those who rely most heavily on public services - women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and older people.
"Rather than targeting the poorest to pay for the mistakes of the richest, we should use the current economic climate as an opportunity to readdress inequality through fair taxes. Massive cuts are not the only option."
Notes
The Greens/European Free Alliance is a European parliamentary group made up of Green MEPs and representatives of stateless nations and disadvantaged minorities. The group strives to make Europe the global leader in terms of environmental protection, peace and social justice, fair globalisation, and in the fight for human rights. The group is the fourth largest group in the EU parliament with 55 MEPs.