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EurActiv (21 January 2019)

The European elections will take place in just over four months. Economy and growth will play an important role in deciding who will sit in the new European Parliament.

MEP Sven Giegold and MEP Gunnar Hökmark discussed the challenges for Europe in 2019 and for the future legislation with EURACTIV journalist Jorge Valero.

“Winter is coming”, said MEP Hökmark, since we are entering a more difficult time of economic development and instability coming from President Donald Trump’s administration. But economic problems aren’t only due to friction with the US. It is also due to differences among member states.

“The most important thing for us to do during the coming term is to increase the potential growth in all member states, coming up to a 3% level and to increase the number of free trade agreements”, said Hökmark.

Both MEPs agreed the EU needs structural reforms. For MEP Giegold, reform should be done in order to align Europe with the Paris Agreement and “to invest in order to transform our industry, our economy, to become consistent with the planet and at the same time to make sure this transition is socially just and economically intelligent”, said Giegold.

What is the number one priority for the next European Parliament?

“A large investment package in European public goods funded by fighting tax fraud, tax evasion and financial criminality through tax cooperation on the European level”, said MEP Giegold. “Foster innovation and competitiveness securing that Europe can be a centre of global, responsible growth”, replied MEP Hökmark.

This video was published as part of the media grant EURACTIV receives from the European Parliament.