Statement of the French Communist Party (PCF) at the 22nd International Meeting of Communist Workers' Parties

On behalf of the French Communist Party and its National Secretary Fabien Roussel, I would like to thank the Cuban Communist Party most warmly for organizing this 22^nd International Meeting of Communist Workers' Parties.

Our delegation would like to take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the Cuban people and the Cuban Communist Party, who have been fighting and resisting the US blockade for 60 years.

We repeat here that this economic and financial blockade and these extraterritorial laws are scandalous and illegal. They are the expression of intolerable interference by the United States. They are a total violation of the sovereignty of the peoples.

It is urgent that the UN resolutions be applied and not just voted.

The French Communist Party will continue its efforts to discuss this issue in the National Assembly, in the Senate, and wherever possible, to allow a stronger commitment from France and Europe to lift the blockade and extraterritorial laws. This will be an important issue that our National Secretary will want to bring to the forefront as he wishes to make an official trip to Cuba in December of this year.

We would also like to take a moment to talk about what is happening in France and in Europe.

After a long electoral sequence during the 1^st half of 2022, France once again saw the far right qualify for the second round of the presidential election where they garnered over 13 million votes.

The 2^nd term of President Emmanuel Macron, often referred to as "the president of the rich," is weakened by the fact that he has only a relative majority in the National Assembly. He has sought to flatter the far right (which has 89 deputies) by allowing them access to key positions such as the bureau of the Assembly, which intervenes in the definition of the agenda of debates. This is an act that aims to give institutional legitimacy to this extreme right-wing party and its ideology that is dangerous to our rights and freedoms.

We know that the extreme right and the liberal right are at the orders of capitalism. They exploit the humiliations and resentments of the people hit by injustices, growing inequalities, human insecurities whether they are climatic, food, sanitary, educational or energy. They feed identity-based withdrawal and hatred of foreigners.

The French Communist Party is mobilizing to respond to the search for an alternative to capitalism. With the trade unions, associations and political forces, we are promoting the idea that an exit from capitalism is not only desirable but possible. This was the meaning of our slogan and our program carried by Fabien Roussel during the presidential election, which calls for mobilization to build: Happier Days.

In this context, we are currently seeing a social movement taking shape, in a context of high inflation and the cost of living, but also of the search for a better distribution of wealth. Strikes are becoming more and more common for wage increases and for the improvement of working conditions. Obviously, our party fully supports these social mobilizations which seek to shake up the unfavorable relationship between capital and labor.

An awareness of the consequences and the human and ecological cost of capitalism seems to be growing in people's minds.

In the different demonstrations over the last weeks, signs bearing the slogan "In Urgent Need of Communism" were visible.

France and Europe are at the heart of much turmoil. The social crisis, the energy crisis, the start of catastrophic climate change, the democratic crisis, and war threaten human rights and pose colossal social challenges.

In the interdependent world in which we live, all peoples are affected by the rise in energy prices, food prices, disruptions in production and supply chains.

The unacceptable invasion of Ukraine by Russia, with dramatic human consequences for the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, reinforces, in a quite dramatic way, the vigor of NATO and the United States to stir up war.

The military escalation, the arms race in Europe, the nuclear threats of some, the weakness of the interventions of international organizations, the alignment of Europe behind the United States, the refusal to seek a political solution are very worrying and seriously threaten peace in Europe and elsewhere.

There is an urgent need to seek a means of de-escalation and cease-fire. Under the aegis of the UN and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) an international peace conference must be opened immediately in order to allow all peoples the guarantee of security while respecting their territorial integrity and sovereignty. We cannot wait any longer, we must build a lasting peace. And we know that the battle for justice, for freedom, for human rights, for the safeguarding of the planet and for peace go hand in hand and are part of a whole that we could call human security.

All these challenges, in particular peace, climate, energy, and human security, require all our political forces to work together, to cooperate and to strengthen international solidarity.

This is why we are participating in this 22^nd International Meeting of Communist Workers' Parties, and we hope that it will result in a final declaration that shows the important need to respond to the global challenges facing us.

In often difficult contexts, communists are working to innovate in order to build transformative, credible and unifying alternatives to capitalism, making social and environmental progress, disarmament and action for peace a priority.

Communist creativity, adapted to the conditions of our time, can make this possible.

It is both an immense challenge and above all our responsibility.

Solidarity with all the peoples who fight for their ideals, for social justice, for their freedom, for their sovereignty, and for peace.

Long live internationalist solidarity! 

The PCF delegation (Cécile Dumas, Taylan Coskun, Christophe Grassulo)