Brussels, 09/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The economic crisis is not yet over and can provide grist to the mill of “bird-brained Eurosceptics”, who have to be confronted, said new German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in an interview with a Greek newspaper recently.
In an interview with Ta Nea, Social Democrat Steinmeier said he did not hide the fact that he is concerned about the situation in the European Union because, although progress has been made, the financial crisis is not yet over and the economic crisis can still feed centrifugal political forces which would be damaging for the whole of the EU.
Steinmeier called for people not to avoid confronting the populists, nationalists and bird-brained people who call themselves Eurosceptic. The new German government's foreign minister made a point of going to Greece on Thursday 9 January for one of his very first official visits abroad. His visit comes ten days after Kalashnikovs were fired at the German ambassador's residence in Athens. No one has yet claimed responsibility. He said the attackers will not manage to damage the good relations between Germany and Greece and between Germans and Greeks. Since the 2010 debt crisis in Greece, public opinion in the country sees Germany as the main agent behind the austerity demanded by the country's lenders, the EU and the IMF. (LC/transl.fl)