Strasbourg, 10/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Just before the speech by the president of the European Commission on the state of the Union, the leaders from the European Parliament's political groups painted a rather alarming picture of the current situation. One exception to this situation was provided by Joseph Daul, the leader of the EPP, who was marginally more upbeat. All believe that the Commission must continue to fulfil its role over the next few months.
Without wishing to be the “professional pessimist”, the leader of the S&D, Hannes Swoboda from Austria, said in a press conference on Tuesday 10 September that “Europe is not in good shape economically or in the area of civil liberties. We have to overcome these shortcomings”. Although he hopes the economy will recover, he admitted that hopes in this context were not very high.
Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium) said that no one should be under any illusion because “there aren't any real signs of recovery and that this is just another stage and not an end to the crisis”. He thought that Europe really was in danger of being hit by a “Japanese winter”, a protracted stagnation, as experienced by Japan in the 1990s.
The joint leader of the Greens/EFA, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, stated quite categorically that the Union was in poor shape and that the last two years had hardly been brilliant. He regretted above all the fact that the German chancellor had given too much priority to a “Europe of governments”. His co-chair of the group, Rebecca Harms from Austria, said that it would only be after the German election that it would be able to stabilise Europe. She also said that “Europe has to be stable in itself to be stronger in the world”, particularly with regard to the Syrian situation and relations with Russia.
The leader of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul, displayed a certain degree of optimism, with the majority of European governments being of the same political stripes. In his eyes, on the economic level, Europe is “going in the right direction”, despite the fact that the employment situation, particularly for young people has to be improved. He said that the improvement observed was due to reforms, particularly with regard to the spiral of debt. Although things were beginning to re-balance, he did, however, advocate caution: “It is when things are going a little bit better that we need to remain on our guard and continue the reforms”.
The leaders of the political groups agree that the Commission has to continue its work and allow for no let up, despite the approaching end of its mandate. The head of the Liberal group said that progress was needed on banking union and the digital agenda. For Daul, from the Christian Democrats, completing the single market and applying it better was what counted.
The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, will present his state of the Union address to MEPs on Wednesday 11 September. (MD/transl.fl)