The meeting of Communist and Workers Parties from the Balkan countries was held in Thessalonica on Sunday 15th of May 2016, at the initiative of the KKE, with as its theme: “The dangerous role of the EU and NATO in the Balkans, the monopoly antagonisms that bring imperialist war, refugees, nationalism and the response of the peoples.”

The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, attended the Meeting and made the introductory speech.

11 Communist and Workers Parties from 8 Balkan countries participated in the Meeting, specifically: Albania (Communist party of Albania), Bulgaria (Union of Communists in Bulgaria, Communist Party of Bulgaria), Croatia (Socialist Workers' Party of Croatia), Greece (Communist party of Greece), FYROM (Communist Party of Macedonia), Romania (Socialist Party of Romania, Party of Communities of Romania), Serbia (New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Communists of Serbia) and Turkey (Communist Party, Turkey).

The delegations of the parties from the Balkans were welcomed at the meeting by the MEP of the KKE, Sotiris Zarianopoulos.

The developments in the Balkans were discussed in the meeting, developments that are occurring   in the framework of the inter-imperialist competition and the dangers for the peoples that are caused by the plans of the bourgeois classes.

Many speakers noted the offensive being unleashed by the bourgeoisie and EU against the rights and gains of the working class and other popular strata.

The experiences from the struggles of the CPs and labour movement against the anti-people policies of the governments and the EU, against NATO were also discussed.

It was stressed by the speakers that the solution for the peoples of the Balkans is not to be found in the vain effort to "humanize" the barbaric exploitative capitalist system, but in the struggle to overthrow it and construct socialism.

Measures were discussed and decided on to develop the further cooperation of the communist and workers parties in the Balkans, at a bilateral and multilateral level, such as:

• Development of joint struggle against antic-communism, against the persecutions of CPs and communists,
• Solidarity with refugees and immigrants, opposition to the repressive policies of the EU and bourgeois classes, struggle against the causes that create the problem,
• Struggle against imperialist war, against the participation of the Balkan countries in it, against the US-NATO bases.

The representatives of the communist and workers parties of the Balkans attended the major political-cultural event, which was organized in the evening of the same day by the Party Organization of the Central Macedonia of the KKE, dedicated to the 80th anniversary from the workers' uprising of May 1936 in Thessalonica.

16.05.2016