Politics
(Strasbourg) – The “State of the Union” address held in Strasbourg today by the president of the EU Commission, Juncker, was prompted by the realisation that “the EU is not in good shape” and is going through an “existential crisis”. The distance between the EU institutions and the European citizens is measured by the spreading of “populism, which, however, does not solve problems, it creates them”. Juncker addressed a number of “real” topics that citizens are “concerned about” and that the EU, along with the member states, must act upon to curb social and economic problems, fears, nationalisms. Such topics include unemployment, the fight against terrorism, the problem of migration, consumer protection, the fight against tax evasion (“we are making a lot of progress in this area”), the defence of industry, the spreading of the broadband, and the end of roaming. As to economy, Juncker insisted on the need for investments: “We propose that the length of the 350 billion Plan be doubled, to bring it to 500 billion in 2020 and to 630 billion in 2022. Investments, to support growth and create employment”. As to public expenses, the head of the EU Executive emphasised that there is a general improvement but “the Stability Pact should not become a Flexibility Pact; it is flexibility that should be cleverly applied, instead”.
