Saving the ‘rocking boat’ of EU policy
The clash between Europe and the United States over Iraq is transmitted to the people and is leading to correspondingly intense anti-American and anti-European feelings, European Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou told Kathimerini, while warning that the voice and the role of Europe «are being dangerously weakened at a global level.» She welcomed Athens’s initiative of an informal EU meeting today, describing it as «an effort to find common ground to save the ‘rocking boat’ of European domestic policy.» Speaking of domestic political developments, the commissioner acknowledged the uncertainty of the political climate, but hastened to add that divergence from the goals it has set for the sake of «short-term payoffs» would be a sure recipe for the electoral defeat of PASOK. Diamantopoulou also believes that «the annual discussion about restructuring the party is tedious.» Commenting on the major issue of corruption, she said that «large, medium-sized and small vested interests are a noose around the neck of political figures.» Finally, Diamantopoulou indirectly sounded the alarm about public debt, acknowledging that there are problems with the Third Community Support Framework, though these are «fewer than those of other states,» and warned that revision of the Common Agricultural Policy will entail adjustment problems.