What is needed is "a turning point capable of effectively relaunching growth and employment", because "the policy of austerity at any cost, which has so far been the prevailing response to the debt crisis", is no longer enough. This was stated by the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, speaking in Strasbourg before the European Parliament. However, the Head of State underlined that auterity "served for the rebalancing of public finances and one could not escape a budgetary discipline that remained lacking after the introduction of the single currency".
At this point, after "the seven toughest years in the history of the EU", the European elections in May will be "the moment of truth - continued Napolitano -, to be fully faced with all its implications" to fight "the distrust and rejection of the work of the institutions of the European Union, due to the worsening of living conditions and social status that has affected most of the members of the Union and of the Eurozone. The emblematic fact is the increase in unemployment and the surge in youth unemployment”.
During his speech, the President was interrupted by the protest of some Northern League MEPs, including Mario Borghezio and Matteo Salvini, who raised posters with the words "Enough euro". The Head of State had to interrupt his speech, but the Strasbourg assembly booed the hecklers, allowing Napolitano to resume speaking after a couple of minutes.
“It will be necessary, as requested by Parliament and as envisaged by the fiscal compact – continued the President –, to place the governance of the monetary union within the institutional framework of the Union. Hence a decisive strengthening of the democratic legitimacy of the decision-making process, an issue that has worsened in general opinion, fueling phenomena of detachment and distrust towards the EU. In the crisis of popular consensus there is the full weight of the economic and social malaise that the Union has not avoided, but also a serious political lack in terms of information and citizen involvement in shaping the Union's choices”.
