The president of the Party of the European Left (PIE), Walter Baier, considers Donald Trump’s victory “terrible”. “The results of the American elections are dangerous for Europe. They are dangerous and bad for the planet and the climate and will have a negative impact on the working class, not only in this country but around the world,” he said during a meeting with journalists.
For the Austrian politician, Trump’s return to the White House “underlines the need to emancipate Europe from the tutelage of the United States and NATO.” “Europe must ensure its own security. To have security, we need peace in Europe,” added the leader of the PIE, who considers that on this path, it is “a bad idea” to enter the arms race. Furthermore, he denounced the EU’s “double standards” in its response to the war in Ukraine and the “genocide” in Gaza.
Baier made this statement as part of the forum that the European Party is organizing this weekend in Budapest. The organization chose far-right Viktor Orbán’s Hungary for this event, as a sign of support for the Workers’ Party in a country where the opposition is going through a difficult period. Also in reaction to the “strategic weakness” of the European left in the Eastern countries, as the communist leader explains.
In Hungary, where real estate prices have increased by 156% over the past decade, Baier spoke about the crisis across Europe and which is one of the priorities the party has set in this legislature. By way of diagnosis, he assured that the inability to approach housing as “a commodity” and not as a “right”.
“Everyone has the right to affordable and decent housing. Place. And states, communities and municipalities must take care of this by investing enough, guaranteeing cheap loans to those who want to buy an apartment and who are now stuck for decades during their lives repaying their loans,” explained Baier, who gave the example of how the model works in Vienna.
But he also believes that things can be done at European level and called on the European Commission to promote a directive forcing member states to cap rent prices. “He could create a European fund for public housing, under which he would provide cheap loans to municipalities. “It all depends on political will and how much money you are willing to spend,” warned Baier, who compared this will to the commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense.
In addition to housing, Baier assured that the other “priority” is to “contribute to the creation of a broad and pluralist peace movement in Europe” at a time when the PIE – of which Izquierda Unida is a part – faces competition of the creation of the European Left Alliance for People and Planet (ELA), of which Podemos is a part. The two parties, however, coexist within the left group in the European Parliament.
