Letter to Catherine Ashton (High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) - 3 February 2011

Ziad Abdul Samad (Director of ANND), Simon Stocker (Director of Eurostep) and Roberto Bissio (Coordinator Social Watch) sent a letter to the High Representative on the 3rd of February 2011. They urge the EU to take responsibility for assisting the oppressed people of the Arab dictatorial regimes in achieving democracy.

The authors argue that the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt are rooted in the economic and social hardships inherent to the dictatorial and client-driven regimes of these countries. These however rapidly turned into ‘political expressions of mass mobilization’ making apparent the link between the political rights on the one hand, and the socio-economic component that the majority of the people were deprived of.

They call on the European Union to end its strategies of supporting oppressive regimes because recent events are a clear proof of their lack of sustainability. Instead it should pursue alternatives that empower democratic and socially aware structures in the region.

They also make the comparison with the fall of the Berlin wall and urge the EU to ‘grasp’ the opportunity to provide assistance for the popular movements to achieve democracy. The implication of this strategy is that in the end, discredited and oppressive leaders be removed from power by the affected people.

Read the letter here

Press release with the occasion of the launch of the 2010 European Social Watch Report