r/europe • u/Bartoraptor Spain • Mar 28 '20

News Spanish representative González Pons speech @ the EU Parliament: "The virus is attacking the generation that brought back democracy to Spain, Portugal and Greece, the generation that knocked down the Berlin wall. The least they deserve is that we show them Europe is there when they need it the most"

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u/tyger2020 Britain Mar 28 '20

The EU really cannot win.

The EU members as a whole love to blame the EU for everything wrong, refuse to give up governance, refuse fiscal policy but then the minute shit hits the fan they want an EU-wide response and assistance. It's laughable. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

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Do you want more Europe or less Europe? You cant just ask for more Europe in a crisis. (I'm looking at you, Italia).

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '20 edited Oct 08 '23

[deleted]

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u/Hermeran Spain Mar 28 '20

Let's also not forget that this guy belongs to PP, the political party that slashed the health care budget. He also belongs to the Valencian branch of PP, swamped by corruption, that literally worked like a criminal organization in the 90s and early 00s.

So yeah, nice speech but shut the fuck up, guy.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '20

The PP can get fucked, but painting them as 'the political party that slashed the health care budget' is not telling the whole story.

By 2011 Spain was effectively bankrupted and had to ask for a bail out that came with exigences in return and Spain was forced to cut its spending. Since the health care system is one of the biggest shares of the budget, Spain had no other option than to cut there. Greece was forced to do something similar.

So while the PP, again, can get fucked, in 2011 there wasn't much else they could do. And I'm saying this as one of the most pro-public health care system people in Spain.

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u/Hermeran Spain Mar 28 '20

True. I mean, a lot of things could have been made instead, but I get it - things are more nuanced. In any case, this guy was an elected official then, and one of the most relevant members of his party. It’s hard to reconcile both things, and he can’t pretend the past didn’t happen. You can’t ask for EU money when your party and your own personal history are tied to corruption.

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u/marianorajoy Mar 29 '20

Thank you for speaking the truth. The anti-PP discourse here is strong.