AKEL MEP G.Georgiou on von der Leyen’s State of the Union address and EU-Turkey references

 

16 September 2021

AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou commenting on the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual State of the Union speech during the European Parliament Plenary session held in Strasbourg on Wednesday noted that the Commission President used “fancy words to concealed the EU’s weaknesses that still exist since last year until today in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the AKEL MEP said, instead of practical solidarity being expressed during the pandemic, we have seen the EU enforce closed borders, the guarding of medical supplies “and orders for vaccines through the back door”. G.Georgiou also criticised the fact that from the EU4Health programme funds of €9 billion that was given to support public health systems, €5.3 billion was eventually given.

G.Georgiou was cautious over the exit from the pandemic, saying that although vaccinations in the EU are progressing, at the same time Africa or third countries neighbouring the EU lag way behind and are experiencing many problems due to the lack of vaccines which in turn could trigger more COVID-19 variants.

The AKEL MEP referred to green growth and the European Green Deal, expressing fears that on this crucial issue “the so-called ‘green capitalism’ isn’t the savor, given that taxes are introduced which will end up being a burden on households, and the many billions allocated for ‘green growth’ will be exploited by some big monopolies”.

The AKEL MEP highlighted the issue of social Europe, pointing out that the EU may have used its own resources to make subsidies to member states, adding that “these will be paid for by the people, since we are talking about super-Memoranda”, since disbursements under the Development Plans will be made after “reforms”.

Finally, regarding the general remarks made on Turkey, G.Georgiou acknowledged that Turkey is indeed a strong geopolitical power and noted that the Turkish President is trying to modernise the Customs Union with the EU by instrumentalising the migration issue.

He also indicated that the President of the Commission is mandated by the decisions of the European Councils and added that “the climate in the relations with Turkey should in fact have been one of reversal (of the ‘positive agenda’), given that Turkey’s provocative actions are unbearable and intolerable”.