DEUTSCHE WELLE: President Joachim Gauck has used a nationally televised speech to call for greater cooperation among the European Union’s member states. The speech comes a year after Gauck took office as Germany’s head of state.
Speaking in front of 200 invited guests at his official residence, the Schloss Bellevue palace in Berlin, President Gauck called for what he described as “more Europe,” while at the same time addressing some of the fears of ordinary EU citizens, including those regarding the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.
The president conceded that a "structural flaw led to an imbalance in the European Union which was only patched up by emergency measures, such as the European Stability Mechanism and the fiscal compact."
He also condeded that most of what the EU's 500 million citizens have read or heard about the 27-member bloc over the past few years has tended to be about the eurozone crisis.
However, he also noted that there were many more elements to the crisis than just the economic dimension.
"It is also a crisis of confidence in Europe as a political project. This is not just a struggle for our currency; we are struggling with an internal quandary too." » | Chuck Penfold | Friday, February 22, 2013
