Former European Commission President Jacques Delors has hit out at the EU’s current economic policies, saying that they run counter to the principles of what Europe should be.
Speaking in Paris at a conference of Europe’s left-wing parties, Delors joined criticism of the EU’s austerity polies, which are destroying social cohesion in the European Union.
The former commissioner won a standing ovation has he made a plea for change. Brussels would like to give “the impression that if workers are more mobile, if they accept lower salaries and reduced unemployment benefits, the system will be saved,” he said.
“It is impossible to accept such policies,” he said.
The conference, held over two days in Paris, saw the French Socialist Party present a new manifesto on Europe, which attacked German-led austerity measures.
Delegates also warned of potential right-wing and populist gains in next year’s European Parliament elections. French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, said that austerity measures were stoking “the rise of anti-European forces.”
The manifesto said that conservative governments were putting Europe “in jeopardy” owing to their economic policies, and called for a more vigorous battle with the right.
It called for a revision of the EU’s stability pact, which seeks to enforce budgetary discipline, in order to promote growth. It also called for the renegotiation of the terms of international bailouts for Greece, Portugal and Spain, as well as an introduction of certain social standards, such as a minimum wage.
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