1. The necessary social and democratic turn in the course of the European Unification did not materialise in Amsterdam. The progressive revision of the Maastricht Treaty is still to be sought.

2. The compromises that were adopted and imprinted on the procedure and the texts of the protocols and the resolutions, do not substantially affect the core of the one-sided economic philosophy of the Maastricht Treaty, as it is re-formulated in the stability pact which was adopted. They postpone the decisive solution of the social, democratic and ecological deficits. They do not measure up to the social dynamics, the political rearrangements, the pressures and the expectations which develop all over Europe.

The reference to the issue of employment, made under the pressure of social upheavals and mobilisations, remains hanging in the air and without substance yet, as there was no political commitment for an all-European programme to fight unemployment.

It is imperative to continue and to strengthen the struggle for the intensification and adoption of the social and political element in the unification process.

3. The Greek government bears a serious part of the responsibility for this outcome of the Amsterdam Summit. It took part without a national negotiation plan, without goals and tactics on the major issues, following the line of ôwe cross that bridge when we come to itö, limiting itself to the so-called matters of special interest. It did not seek wider alliances and did not support the French initiative for employment. The referrence to the inviolability of the EU frontiers, while not underestimating its importance, does not permit fanfares, not to mention that the absence of a Common Foreign and Defence policy limits its practical consequences.

The need for a national negotiation plan, in political terms continues to be a priority, but it does not seem that the present government is able or wants to do so.

4. On the way to the third phase of the Monetary Union, the Synaspismos opinion is that, under the pressure of the social factor and the new balance of forces, the issue of the flexibility of the criteria and the time schedule as well as the matter of the addition of socila criteria for the common currency, should be put again on the table. This is required firstly, so that Greece does not remain alone and exposed outside the European Monetary Union and, secondly, the all-European efforts for employment and social cohesion be strengthened.

SYNASPISMOS, with consistency to its European orientation, will continue to fight for a united Europe in a federal perspective, under terms of real convergence, social cohesion, ecological balance and substantial democratic controls, repeating its demand for a referendum.