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The institution of the European Parliament is ignored and it is isolated from the process of decision-making in the European Union, said Greek Members of the European Parliament from all parliamentary groups at a special meeting with journalists. "Although the Lisbon Treaty has enhanced the importance of the European Parliament, recent events show in fact that it is isolated from the decision-making process in the European Union. We have to strive in order for our word to be heard," said Rodi Kratsa, a Member of the European Parliament from New Democracy and Vice President of the European Parliament.
    Marietta Yanakou, leader of New Democracy Members of the European Parliament stressed the need for institutional change. According to her, on the one hand, the brakes should be put on major European Union countries to stop doing whatever they decide, as is currently the case with Germany and France. On the other hand, individual countries should be deprived of the opportunity to block important decisions like Britain did.
    "This is not the Europe that we dreamed of," agreed Spiros Danelis from PASOK. He warned that the way in which decisions are currently being taken by only Germany and France and approved with minor amendments by all is not democratic, but also raises Euro scepticism, which he described as a dangerous phenomenon. Spiros Danelis spoke against the attempts of politicians to seriously interfere with the functioning of markets.
    "The European Parliament is currently something like a dance club and a football stadium at the same time," is the opinion of the representative of LAOK Nikolaos Salavrakos. He openly admitted that he belongs to the group of Euro sceptics. It is not because he does not want Europe but because Europe is now too good to be true. "Greece is now isolated not only in the European Parliament but also among European nations. The media as well as governments are to blame for this. Because Greece is causing a problem in Europe, it is looking at us as a part of the problem," he said. According to the representative of the Greek far right, no one can be saved if he himself does not want to be saved, but this is not clear in Greece yet.
    For Theodoros Skilakakis from Democratic Alliance, the most important taboo, which fell last year, was the false belief that a eurozome state cannot default. "It is not possible to have the euro, without having a lender of last resort for the eurozone. It is not possible to spend more money than you earn. And our political system is used to spending money that it does not have," he said. Theodoros Skilakakis warned that if Greece continued to spend more money than a year ago, as the Greek government did during the first 11 months of 2011, nobody would support it financially. He openly said that the Troika is not to blame for the deplorable state of the Greek economy, because it is not its fault that corruption is so widespread in the country. "Greece can no longer be a Western country and in many areas, it no longer is a Western country," he concluded.
    According to Nikolaos Huntis of SYRIZA, the European Parliament's prestige has been strongly undermined in the last two years, although it is the only European organization that is directly elected by European citizens.