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EU to avert break-up

January 6th, 2015

A left-wing commentator predicts that despite all the challenges facing the European Union it will not break-up, and 2015 will not bring major setbacks to the process of European integration.

Népszava’s Gyula Hegyi contends that 2015 will have its challenges, but there is no reason to fear the break-up of the European Union. The left-wing analyst and former MEP points out that EU integration has from the beginning been a slow and hesitant process. But despite the challenges of the past, no major achievement has ever been undone in the more than six decade long history of European integration. Hegyi is confident that UKIP will not win the elections in the UK. Concerning Greece, he believes that even if the radical left-wing Syriza party comes first in the forthcoming snap election, there is no reason to fear that Greece will exit the Eurozone, since this would harm both the interests of Athens and other EU member states including Germany. Despite a likely surge in support for far-right parties in Finland and Sweden, it is also unlikely that these Nordic states are becoming hostile to the idea of European integration, Hegyi suggests. The biggest challenge for the EU could be the victory of the Spanish Podemos party, he suggests, which would clash with Brussels in order to dampen the austerity measures demanded by the EU. In an aside, Hegyi notes that the stability of the Union is strengthened by the fact that “unless something unforeseen happens, there will be no change in the three most important positions in Europe: those of the German Chancellor, the French President or European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker”.

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