B3-1295/93

Resolution on the serious events in Crotone

The European Parliament,

A.mindful of the serious crisis at Enichem in Crotone, which has provoked dramatic protest demonstrations involving local and church institutions and the entire population, each time paralysing the town,

B.whereas the events in Crotone are not isolated and are repeated daily throughout the Italian Mezzogiorno and particularly in the Naples area, where the employment crisis is assuming tragic proportions,

C.whereas the town of Crotone has been paralysed for five days by a general strike; whereas in recent days both motorways and railways have been blockaded, and whereas similar events have taken place in other areas of the Mezzogiorno, particularly in the Naples area, and further violent protests have been promised, with the result that the Italian Mezzogiorno risks becoming a powder keg posing serious dangers for the very future of democracy,

D.whereas these events are consistent with the economic and social situation in the Mezzogiorno; whereas, although they are part of a more general employment crisis in the Community, in the Mezzogiorno the situation is catastrophic,

E.whereas the legitimate social tensions combine dramatically with the frailty of the social fabric to provide a new breeding ground and new scope for organized crime,

1.Calls on the Commission to take urgent, practical steps to tackle the employment problem in the Community through programmes and measures targeted at those areas where the tensions are most acute and the problems most urgent, such as the Italian Mezzogiorno;

2.Urges the Italian Government and the southern regions to implement coherent programmes to restructure the production base of the regions of the Mezzogiorno - which have been completely destroyed by an irreversible industrial crisis - by using, if necessary by means of special measures, Community resources earmarked for the IMPs and the MGP but not yet disbursed and by speeding up procedures in connection with the funding earmarked for the period 1994-1999;

3.Urges the Commission not to transfer to other nations resources which have been earmarked for, but not yet used by, the southern regions of Italy since serious social problems cannot be tackled by means of inflexible regulations;

4.Expresses solidarity with the workers involved in the fight to save their jobs and with those of them, especially the young, who are desperately seeking to secure their right to a living;

5.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission and the Italian Government.