Eurozone crisis: Tory MEP derides ‘desperate’ centralisation of power

A Conservative MEP has attacked the “increasingly desperate” centralisation of power in Europe in response to the economic crisis in the Eurozone.

• Tory MEP says Europe has failed to deal with the economic crisis

• Barroso questions the urgency of all member states

• Warning over Spanish bail-out

Martin Callanan told the European Parliament in Strasbourg: “Europe faces yet another one in a long line of crises, only this time it is fast becoming a crisis of legitimacy.”

Addressing the European Commission, he said: “You are bringing more centralisation upon yourselves in an increasingly desperate attempt to get ahead of the crisis, which so far you have completely failed to do.”

Earlier, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Europe was in a ‘defining moment’ for integration.

“We are seeing that, even when governments are taking the right steps towards reform, they can be negatively impacted by events beyond their control, or by the lack of decisive and comprehensive long-term response.

“We need to articulate the vision of where we need to go, and a very concrete path for how to get there. I am not sure whether the urgency of this is fully understood in all the capitals.”

He said a discussion on the “building blocks” of future economic and monetary union would be at the core of the summit.

Mr Barroso said: “There is only one Union. There is only one (European) Parliament. There is only one European Commission. This is so because fragmentation is not an option.”

But Mr Callanan said the latest Spanish bail-out accord highlighted the problems: “The latest Spanish bailout lasted barely 24 hours before it was being questioned in the markets. It’s like wetting your pants at the North Pole - it feels warm at first, but soon leaves you in even more trouble.”

“When the markets are unimpressed when Spanish banks are lent 100 billion euros, you have a clear signal that the failure continues.”