"The Troika's time is over," said Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission, adding, "Getting the IMF on board in recent years was an emergency solution. In future, we Europeans have to be able to resolve our problems on our own."
"The Commission is the economic government of Europe. Together with the ECB and the member states, we can make sure that, in return for solidarity, countries hit hardest by the crisis implement reform," she said.
Reding was speaking at a 'citizens dialogue' in Heidelberg, Germany, one of a series of public discussions throughout Europe.
The Troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund have been supervising Eurozone bailouts, but have been the target of public anger as austerity bites, feeling they have too much power over elected governments.
She noted, "Sensitive decisions, be they about privatisations in Greece or joint taxation of income for married couples in Germany, cannot be left to financial experts who have no democratic legitimacy." she added, "Instead, there must be public debate in the European Parliament on whether lines of action are right or wrong."
Reding, who is campaigning to become the centre-right European People's Parrty (EPP) candidate for the commission presidency. Asked if a president should be elected, she replied, "I have suggested that we could have a system like in France where the President is directly elected."
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