EU parliament chief warns of bloc’s ‘implosion,’ says people lost trust in ‘entire institutions’
“Europe has been on a sliding slope for some time now. Many people’s trust in institutions, whether national or European, has gone,” Schulz said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungnewspaper.
“Hardly any of the governments is fighting to reach the hearts of the people,” Schulz said, blaming heads of states and administrations for the loss of confidence.
There is a high risk of an “implosion of the EU,” Schulz added.
“If the British leave the EU, there will be [other] demands for further escape referendums,” he warned.
The UK is holding a referendum on its membership in the EU on June 23. All British citizens who have lived in the UK at some point during the last 15 years are allowed to vote. The latest ORB poll for the Telegraph has meanwhile revealed just a 1 percent gap between Brits who want to stay in the EU and those who want to leave. The survey found that 49 percent supported staying ‘In’ while 48 percent wanted ‘Out’.
As things stand now, Schulz says he doesn’t consider it possible for right- and left-wing populists to come to power in EU member states. While Euroskeptics are still in the minority, “the silent majority seem to be under the misapprehension that everything will go well in the end,” he noted, adding that the outcome of the Dutch referendum on the Association Agreement with Ukraine showed that one “should not rely on [a fallacy].”
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