Strasbourg, 02/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - During a debate at the EP on Wednesday 2 July, the Commission and several members of the European Parliament praised the success of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU, despite the difficult circumstances domestically and an interruption to work with the EP due to the European elections of May. The debate, which took place at the plenary session at the EP, went off at quite a tangent on the internal situation of the country, with a volley of barbed comments from Greek MEPs from the opposition parties.
On behalf of the Commission, Vice-President Maros Sefcovic spoke of “impressive results”, most notably on banking union and the directive on worker secondment. He stressed that the six-month period just ending also saw the return of the country on the international markets, a return to growth and to a budgetary surplus. Croatian EPP MEPs Dubravka Suica and Andrej Plenikovic congratulated the Presidency on its work on maritime policy and the Adriatic strategy. Germany's Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA) thanked the Presidency for concluding a range of important dossiers to stabilise the financial markets, but lamented the fact that nothing had been done on building up economic and monetary union (Commission blueprint and documents of the four Presidents), or on tax competition. On behalf of the EPP, Poland's Danuta Jazlowiecka told Greekn Prime Minister Antonis Samaras that she had found the Greek Presidency credible and responsible.
The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said that there had never been more legislation adopted than under the Greek Presidency. Samaras, took the chamber through the figures: 67 political agreements, plus 15 legislative initiatives on which consensus was reached with the Commission, all in four months instead of six. He also pointed out that Greece had used just 40% of the budget initially set aside for its Presidency.
Miltiadis Kyrkos, Greek River Party MEP (S&D), lamented the fact that the Greek Presidency had not taken any initiatives on youth unemployment. Stating that the Presidency had satisfied itself with “bureaucratic work”, he also said that it had been absent from the Ukrainian dossier. On this front, Samaras replied that the Presidency, working closely with the Commission, had followed a dual approach: political dialogue and more sanctions if necessary. Samaras also expressed his regret that the debate had focused so much on the internal situation of his country. (EL)