MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Union needs to cut taxes and slash bureaucracy in order to overcome economic stagnation, Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) member and former presidential candidate Norbert Hofer told Sputnik on Thursday.
“The EU crisis is much deeper as many EU members have huge debts and high unemployment rates, the economies of some EU countries are very weak. Therefore, we should focus on the economic situation strengthening the EU economy through reasonable tax cuts and to reducing bureaucracy,” Hofer, who narrowly lost the 2016 Austrian presidential election after running on a Eurosceptic platform, said.
The European Union has a massive youth unemployment problem, with figures at almost 20 percent across the bloc's 28 nations, according to Eurostat. A peak of 24 percent was reached in 2012-2013. The crisis is particularly pronounced in southern Europe, including Italy and Spain, where the figures reach into the 50 percent zone.
