Saxon EU politician Oliver Schenk (CDU) rejects the idea of centralizing responsibilities in the European Union. He told media representatives that it was not acceptable for the Commission to only negotiate with the governments of the federal states in future and for the regions to be left out. Europe would not become stronger if the regions were weakened.
Schenk: Europe's strength lies in the regions
"If you centralize structural policy, then you fail to recognize where Europe's strength and power actually lies. And that is on the ground, because you know best on the ground what things are necessary," emphasized Schenk, who previously headed the State Chancellery in Dresden and moved to the European Parliament last year as the leading CDU candidate in Saxony. There he is a member of the EPP group, the largest in the EU Parliament.
Only on the ground is it clear where the real problems lie, said Schenk. "That has always made us strong when regions are in competition with each other." The microelectronics cluster in Dresden would probably not have developed in this form if it had been controlled solely from Berlin. Rather, this was a conscious decision by the then Saxon government in the 1990s.
