Europe Needs More Democracy and Less Merkel
Party chair of Die LINKE, Bernd Riexinger, reacts with disappointment and criticism to the European policy keynote speech by Angela Merkel to the delegates of the European Parliament. He declares:
Merkel has never so openly shown that she does not care two figs about the democratic roots of the European idea. Merkel's vision of Europe is a continent with no welfare state and democracy. Merkel's EU is a bureaucracy that rules against the citizens. Merkel's idea of European integration is competition for the lowest wages, pensions and benefits. Five years of crisis under Merkel's leadership have made Europe a continent, in which politics are made by blackmail, threats, and fear. This is a kind of Europe to become tired of.
A European agreement from above will not work. Europe needs a new democratic beginning for labor and social justice. More Europe is only possible with a European constitution which is developed in broad dialogue with the citizens and adopted by a European referendum. This is the exact opposite of a Europe of closed doors which Merkel wants. The new Europe is built on the streets which carry the protest against Merkel's wrong policies. Europe needs more democracy and less Merkel.