May’s European Parliament elections will be a “test for democracy,” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Thursday, while Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos expressed concern about the rise of Euroscepticism, mostly due to the impact of troika-led consolidation programs in some eurozone countries, such as Greece.
Both leaders were speaking at a conference in Athens organized by the Greek daily Kathimerini and the French magazine Le Nouvelle Observateur.
Samaras highlighted the need for Europeans to overcome the stereotypes that have been formed in recent years. “Our challenge is to dare to converge and join forces beyond the narrow confines of stereotypes,” he said.
The Prime Minister added that despite the problems that the European Union is experiencing, it is “incomparably better” to be part of the 28-member bloc than outside it. He said that the lack of stability in the wider Mediterranean region confirmed this.
Samaras said that the rise of the far-right in Greece was a result of austerity, high unemployment and illegal immigration. He suggested that Golden Dawn would be marginalized once the Greek economy recovers.
Evangelos Venizelos during his speech stated that the European Parliament elections in May would be critical for the future cohesion and development of the European Union. The “installation of the International Monetary Fund in the heart of Europe” – as part of the establishment of the so-called troika of international creditors for Greece and other debt-racked countries – undermined the European Commission’s ability to solve problems but was introduced because European institutions proved unable to tackle EU member states’ debt crises, he said.
Guy Verhofstadt, a former Prime Minister of Belgium, a current liberal Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and candidate for the post of European Comission (EC) president, suggested that the European Union’s current modus operandi was illogical. “Imagine America functioning without a president, without an army, with only occasional meetings between the heads of different states.” He proposed the introduction of a tax on citizens of European Union member states to fund the union.
Michel Barnier, European commissioner for internal markets, also stressed that European nations, and their citizens, should take a more active role in the future of Europe and its institutions.
Source: ekathimerini
