Greece

Caroline Lucas Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As my hon. Friend well knows—the Prime Minister was explaining this at the Dispatch Box just an hour or so ago—one of the issues we are seeking to address in our renegotiation is Britain’s involvement in ever-closer union, which is not something that the British people are very comfortable with. I would make the broader observation, which relates both to the UK and to members of the eurozone, that we have to make the European continent, ourselves included, a competitive place to do business. We have to have businesses that can export around the world. We have to be able to make sure that jobs are being created in the European Union. A very important strand of what we are seeking to change in our relationship with the European Union is to make the EU more competitive for all its citizens, Greek as well as British.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

Since implementing austerity measures in return for loans has shrunk the Greek economy by a quarter and massively increased its debt-to-GDP ratio, as well as caused untold suffering, will the Chancellor consider increasing calls for the organisation of a European conference, similar to the London conference of 1953 for Germany, to agree a package of debt cancellation and restructuring, which is likely to be a far more effective way of addressing both the economic and the social crisis unfolding in Greece?