20 years after Maastricht, EU in quest for new Big Idea
AFP/Global Post, 29.10.2013
Quotes
Twenty years on from the Maastricht Treaty that led to the euro, the European Union's quest for an "ever-closer union" rings increasingly hollow to citizens worn down by the debt crisis. [...]
Indeed some such as Britain talk of winning power back while anti-EU sentiment is on the rise even in stalwarts such as France ahead of European Parliament polls in 2014.
Today's leaders are wary of action given "the fears of governments and EU institutions that euro-critical forces might win even more support", said European Policy Centre analyst Janis Emmanouilidis.
He listed parties on the rise in at least nine EU states and today sees no "transnational message about why the EU matters, backed up by concrete policy proposals that go well beyond the lowest common denominator". [...]
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