‘Anti-democratic’ EU led to rise of Right, says Greek PM

ALEXIS TSIPRAS, the prime minister of Greece, has accused the European Union of being anti-democratic and warned that the bloc risks being torn apart by the rise of Right-wing populist forces in Europe.

Mr Tsipras, once a great hope of the European far-left, was speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday in a debate on the future of Europe.

Greece recently left its third and final EU bail-out programme after eight torturous years of austerity, which Mr Tsipras claimed was a “new beginning” despite Athens remaining under EU surveillance. In a largely pro-eu speech, he told MEPS that the EU had been wrong to allow the German-dominated Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers handle the Greek crisis, which nearly ended in Grexit and cost Greece 25 per cent of its GDP.

He said: “During the financial crisis, the EU, instead of becoming more democratic through the use of our institutional framework of the Treaty of Lisbon, became more technocratic and centred on national states.”

Mr Tsipras blamed the “neo-liberal response” to the financial crisis for the rise of the extreme Right-wing in European politics.

“Racism and xenophobia are becoming the dominant political discourse in traditional conservative forces ... this could lead to European disintegration,” he warned.