Thanks

Since the anti-globalisation movement of the late '90s and early 2000s, wherever the political representatives and economic thinkers of capital met, they encountered protest and opposition. The anti-worker and environmentally unsustainable implications of their free trade and neo-liberal agenda were exposed at Seattle, Genoa and worldwide.

With much fanfare, the government recently announced that it had got “permission” from their EU and IMF masters to reverse the cut in the minimum wage institued by the previous government. Fine Gael declared that the decision showed the government was “committed to protecting lower paid workers” while Labour TD Derek Nolan said it showed that “Labour's decision to enter government has made a real difference in people's lives”.

A new international treaty is currently being negotiated by the leaders of the EU. This treaty, currently called the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union,  is a treaty to effectively institutionalise austerity across the European Union.