The Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) is happy to see the youth of France stopping the unacceptable law, CPE, that would greatly reduce the job security of not only people under 26, but of the whole of French society. FYEG congratulates the protesters, secondary school and university students, inner city and suburban youth, workers and unemployed alike. FYEG also thanks the labour unions for their involvement and support for the protests.
However, the CPE is neither the beginning nor the end. Similar laws or practices are already in place all over Europe, and there is a process of precarisation that affects both young and old, even though youth, women and migrants, as usual, are most affected. Solidarity protests in other European countries have been enacted, but have not been enough to start a momentum of Europe-wide protest.
Spokesperson of FYEG, Ska Keller, says: “The precarity can and must be stopped, not by stubbornly refusing any change, but by demanding security that corresponds to flexibility. A Europewide guaranteed basic income would be one such measure.”
EU-affairs coordinator of FYEG, Joke Van de Putte, adds: “There are many initiatives for widening the current protests, especially around the traditional worker’s day of First of May. For example, the Austrian Greens are making the 30th of April into the Day of the Unemployed, and for several years a protest network called EuroMayDay has brought the voice of those working under flexible and untypical working conditions, or not working at all, to the streets, and will do so again this year in 19 European cities.”
FYEG sees these initiatives as positive. They show that spring is a time for protest not only for traditional workers, and FYEG encourages Young Greens all over Europe to involve themselves in the processes. Together we can make this a hot spring for those who would have us live in flexibility without security.