Entire regions are plagued by mass unemployment, with social welfare and poverty levels averaging 25 to 50 percent.

Entire suburbs of major cities and former industrial centres in Europe have fallen into ruin. In cities like Paris, Athens, Warsaw or Rome, in the former workers’ and immigrant quarters of Amsterdam, London, Berlin or the German Ruhr district, unemployment and poverty is often two or three times higher than national figures.

Wealth

While whole regions sink into poverty and misery, a small layer has been able to profit. The figures given by Eurostat on income distribution in Europe are outdated and of limited validity.

National statistics are more reliable, even though they culminate in the year 2007. According to the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), in 2007 the richest 1 percent ofa total of 196 billionaires in Europe, 52 of whom reside in Germany.

The rich and their companies have been able to profit mainly from interest and shareholder dividends. Basically they have been able to profit from the growing pauperisation of the European continent. In particular, the big concerns use the nationalism of the trade unions to play off workers in the individual countries against one other and force through the pro-business measures passed by national governments and the EU bureaucracy. As the crisis deepens and the assault on jobs and wages intensifies the trade unions line up even more closely with their respective governments and company managements.

When was the last time one heard the traditional slogan “The same wages for the same work!” from the mouth of a