EU’s Stubbornness, Inflexibility to Kill Democracy - Portuguese Newspaper

When it comes to making important political decisions, the leaders of the EU lack creativity and will, the Portuguese newspaper said.

According to the newspaper, Europe is currently witnessing the process of ideological and political standardization, when bold, reformist ideas are labeled as radical and put aside. This way, the EU is reaching a dead-end, when the diversity of economies and democracy itself is on the verge of extinction.

One thing everyone should remember about the EU: there is no easy way out of its all-controlling grip. The EU will stubbornly stand behind its decisions, however impractical, inflexible or unmerciful they might be, as it has demonstrated while negotiating with Greece over its debt, Expresso said.

Greek political leaders have had it back-and-forth with the EU, trying to find a working solution to fix their government's massive debt. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras did his best by introducing, reviewing and re-introducing measures that would help his country to stay afloat in the times of economic hardship. But his attempts were in vain, he was beating his head against the wall of EU's unwillingness to compromise. The EU refused to give any concessions to Greece.

Meanwhile, Greece is in major trouble. The country's GDP fell by 25 percent, salaries dropped by 37 percent on average, unemployment rose to 27 percent and the government's debt is 180 percent higher than Greece's annual GDP.

On Saturday, the Greek government announced a national referendum on the issue of whether or not to accept the creditors' conditions and continue the policy of austerities. The voting is set to take place on July 5.

Earlier, during a meeting in Brussels with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Tsipras said that the Greek side does not understand why creditors insist on "keeping such tough measures."

On February 20, the Eurogroup agreed to extend the loan program for Greece by another four months in exchange for further reforms. Greece pledged to move toward EU banking, tax and other regulations.

The rescue plan was extended until June 30, when Greece is expected to deliver a $1.7-billion payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).