Archbishop of Canterbury claims ‘corruption and bureaucracy’ in the EU have impoverished member countries

Nov 19, 2016 by Jill

by Steve Doughty, Mailonline:

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday condemned the EU for turning Greece into ‘the biggest debtors’ prison in European history’.

In a speech in Paris, the Most Reverend Justin Welby said EU policies had kept entire countries in desperate circumstances impoverishing many citizens.

And he said the inequality means some Europeans enjoy unprecedented living standards while for others EU leaders have made things worse through ‘centralisation, corruption and bureaucracy’.

The Archbishop’s comments appear to mark a U-turn from June, when he backed the Remain side in the referendum. During the speech yesterday at the Catholic Institute of Paris, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate, he said that ‘in southern Europe particularly, talk of economic success would be met with confusion and anger’.

The Archbishop said: ‘Greece is the clearest example of that.

‘It was urged to enter the eurozone on essentially a false prospectus, with declared debt well below the reality, and thus outside the criteria for euro entry.

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