Centrifugal Forces Tear Europe Apart – German Foreign Minister

The current situation in Greece, the issue of redistribution of migrants among the EU member states and the debates on United Kingdom’s possible exit from the EU are among the vital issues that are tearing the very foundation of the European Union apart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier thinks.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Centrifugal forces, such as the current crisis in Greece and the migration problem, are tearing the very foundation of the European Union apart, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Sunday.

“The foundation of Europe is being torn apart by centrifugal forces,” Steinmeier said in an interview with the German newspaper Tagesspiegel am Sonntag.

The German foreign minister thinks that such forces include the current situation in Greece, the issue of redistribution of migrants among the EU member states and the debates on United Kingdom’s possible exit from the European Union.

“Europe has its strong sides, but we must not ignore its weaknesses,” Steinmeier said, adding that otherwise “politicians will give way to populists from the right and left [sides of political spectrum].”

In the recent months, the European Union saw a rise in support toward far-right and eurosceptic movements, including the creation of the anti-European Union bloc Europe of Nations and Freedoms in the European Parliament in mid-June.

A survey conducted by ICM Research exclusively for Sputnik and released in June revealed that 47 percent of respondents in Britain, France and Spain believe that it is the mass migration that contributed most to the growing popularity of Eurosceptic parties. Another 38 percent linked the rise of such movements to the overall disenchantment with the European Union.