Once again, we witness the European bourgeoisie patting themselves on the back as inflation settles at the arbitrary 2 percent threshold set by the capitalist technocrats of the European Central Bank. This “success” is heralded as stability—a “victory” over dangerous oscillations that might threaten the delicate balance of their profit-driven economies. The celebration is premature and utterly myopic, for it masks the chronic social contradictions that festering under the surface of European society, contradictions that are endemic to the exploitative capitalist system.

The Eurostat figures are paraded as proof of prudent stewardship. But who, comrades, reaps the benefit of these figures? As prices crawl upward, workers and peasants see their purchasing power erode. Look at the real economy: service sector inflation, food, alcohol, and tobacco all rising faster than official targets. For the European worker, these are not abstract percentages—they are the difference between a full meal or an empty table, warmth or shivering in the dark. The so-called “core inflation” strips away “volatile” items like energy and food, as though the basic necessities of life could be considered optional. It is an accounting trick that removes the suffering of the masses from the calculation, betraying their utter contempt for the people.

The ECB’s “caution” and refusal to cut interest rates any further is another slap in the face to those who labor under the yoke of capital. They hesitate, not out of concern for workers, but out of fear for the stability of their own financial system. Their policies are designed solely to protect profit margins for banks and corporations, not to alleviate the hardships faced by the population. Even where inflation appears “tamed,” as in Germany, it is a cold comfort when real wages stagnate or decline, and housing, food, and fuel costs remain unaffordable for millions.

Meanwhile, Austria experiences inflation surging above 3 percent, driven by energy and industrial goods. This exposes the lie that European prosperity is evenly distributed. The truth is, Europe’s prosperity is built upon a smoldering foundation of inequality: workers and the poor shoulder the burden of rising prices while capitalists grow rich from speculation and market games. And all the while, these same capitalists are eager to import goods from Asia—redirected, cheapened by global overproduction, the only “benefit” offered to European consumers being the crumbs thrown from the imperialist table.

The celebration of a “strong euro” only reveals the mindset of the ruling class: what benefits the euro as a currency often harms those who must sell their labor in exchange for it. A strong currency may depress import prices, but it crushes local production and exports, undermining European workers and transferring the crisis abroad, perpetuating exploitation in the global South.

Let us not be fooled by the “moderation” of inflation orchestrated by technocrats and bankers. Only when workers take control of the means of production—when all of society is organized for the people, not for profit—will we see an end to this farce. The road to true prosperity lies in the destruction of capitalist production relations, in socialist planning, and the unbreakable unity of the working class. Let this “success” be a call to organize, to agitate, to struggle! The people, not the central banks, must dictate the destiny of Europe.