We have chosen the Parliament of the European Union and we must anticipate what will bring us in the next five years. It is likely that the right-wing Jean-Claude Juncker will take over the leadership of the European Commission and that the one who has been so far, Mr Barroso, will do a very similar job to what he has done, because Merkel and his powerful economic lobbies will not let him play a lot. Therefore, austerity continues to hit poor people and the decline of middle classes is not going to stop.

And what would happen if the Social Democrat Martin Schulz were elected? Almost identical. Although Schulz was sold to us as a “hammer” on the right when she was elected president of the last Parliament. But, in addition to harsh words, it has not been able to curb or reorient the neo-liberal direction of the EU. However, it may be the case that both parties join together to govern the EU.

Because we have to remember that social democrats and people are united in many governments, in coalition. In Germany the two parties govern, and the unfortunate situation of the European periphery, which is the main driver of austerity, must be attributed to this government, along with the troika made up by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In Greece, there are also the two parties in the government. In the French state, the Social Democrats in Hollande have gone as far as the right in social spending cuts. Etc.

In the Spanish state, what is the difference in the economic aspect between the two major parties? We are well aware that in August 2011, under the leadership of Zapatero, both parties changed the building of the Constitution to prioritize payments to financial institutions among all expenditures of the public budget. In this way, the banks will be the first to collect and then the citizens, the taxpayers. The CAV and Navarre also join anti-economic and anti-nationalist policies.

On the other hand, during the election campaign, the consequences of the terrible Transatlantic Treaty on Trade and Investment (TTIP or TTIP) have remained silent; most of the days of the campaign have been “in the machismo key”, since there are differences in these issues, not in the economy where the two sides are equal. In fact, if this Convention is adopted, the consequences will be worrying, because the doors will be opened to GM products and other harmful foods. The profits of the multinationals will be protected if their cuts are made by the political and economic measures of some State; in these cases they can demand compensation and the public budgets will be responsible for these cuts.

With all this in mind, the new EU Parliament will have a weak impetus to deal with the troika, which has everything controlled by the two majority parties and these in the service of insatiable lobbies. However, this Parliament will be an excellent speaker in launching the negative measures taken in the macro-economy, in asserting the right to decide or in denouncing Spanish deficient democracy. These are, among others, what small party groups can do.

The European Union will therefore follow the path of its economic leaders, boosting big business and, consequently, weakening social cohesion. After all, their legitimacy is going to become something worse, because the wonderful stories they told us are falling into nothing.