The Partido Popular's Balearics MEP Rosa Estaras argues that the European Union and the European Parliament define 75% of people's lives - from the air they breathe to the water they drink. "Everything is regulated by a directive or a law."
Estaras believes that the EU needs to get closer to the people but she adds that there is nowhere in the world that has as much welfare state as Europe nor the level of human rights protection for the weakest. For the most part, the EU has been a "project for peace and values", but there is always room for improvement.
The Balearics MEP thinks that being against Europe is equivalent to being against democracy. "In a world with China and the United States, the EU is the voice for human rights. The protection of the weakest can only be guaranteed by a strong European Union." For Estaras, Euroscepticism is against everything, creates chaos and is contrary to common sense.
Radicals, in her opinion, are seeking to take charge of the system by saying what people want to hear and by promoting attitudes that are directed against anyone. They want to destroy how the European Parliament functions.
Accepting that there needs to be self-criticism by the EU, Estaras warns against those who suggest they have a magic wand and can fix everything while engaging in insults and trickery. The problem of immigration, she notes, cannot be solved through "xenophobia" and economic crisis cannot be solved by saying that "tomorrow everyone will be paid a salary of 1,500 euros".
With regard to Vox and Podemos, Estaras says that the public will make their assessments at the May elections and stresses that "common sense" is the way, not radicalism from which resentment arises that "builds nothing".