The European Parliament President David Sassoli is in Athens today to mark the 40th anniversary of Greece’s accession to the EEC. This morning he addressed the Greek Parliament’s committees on EU and Foreign Affairs during a joint session. In his speech, he called for Europe to learn the lessons of the financial crisis and not go back to the failed policies of the past. He said:

“I am very happy to be with you to celebrate this historic anniversary for Europe and for Greece. Forty years ago, your country joined the European family, having lived through the tragedy of a military dictatorship, the difficulties of transition back to democracy, and a fragile economy. On 1 January 1981, the European Communities began a new era in the history of our continent by welcoming Greece, the historic cradle of democracy.

“In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down. As we begin to come out of this health crisis, we are in a position to look at our continent and decide what is working, what is not, and what can be improved. Fifteen months ago, we set aside the rules of the past by suspending the Stability and Growth Pact and rules governing state aid. We did it because we recognised that those rules were not capable of responding to the COVID crisis.

“Now is the time to reflect on the rules of the future. We cannot rely on rules of the past that have left citizens behind, that have produced inequalities, and caused injustice. The rules to come must allow our societies to reconcile rights, the common good and development. I believe that this is a task for parliaments. We must speak on behalf of citizens and indicate for our societies, a set of rules that can reconcile us with a better future. During this crisis, we saw it was necessary to issue common debt through the Next Generation EU and the Recovery Plan. This was something that was lacking in the reaction to the financial crisis, something that you in Greece know all too well.”

“I am pleased that many in this parliament have said today that we need to make some of these new instruments permanent, to give Europe, our national systems, our countries more capacity and more resources to recover from such a deep crisis. We see that the Europe which comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic, is not the same as the one that came out of the financial crisis.”

The European Parliament President went on to stress the need for a truly European migration and asylum policy, to end unanimity in EU foreign policy decisions, and the importance of the Conference on the Future of Europe:

“The European Parliament has said by a strong majority that those who arrive in Greece, Malta, France or Spain, arrive in Europe, and it is Europe that should deal with it. The Dublin regulation has to be reformed and a truly common migration policy developed.

“Democracy cannot work by unanimity. It cannot work because it does not provide answers, it blocks decisions, and avoids taking responsibility. The Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity to change how we work, to give answers to citizens. This must be an exercise without taboos.”