Ahead of this afternoon's votes, GUE/NGL MEP Marisa Matias calls on the European Parliament to reject a report on the European Semester that pushes the same old austerity agenda.

"What has been done so far corresponds to the prevailing vision of how to respond to the crisis which has been a complete failure," said the MEP in a plenary debate this morning. "Empty words are being bandied about while austerity continues to destroy economies. This report only draws ambiguous conclusions."

She continued: "The Troika's policy is disastrous. Rather than cutting wages we need to promote investment and SMEs. Incompetence and hypocrisy are what characterises how this crisis is being dealt with especially in the peripheral countries. The political right is destroying Europe - we cannot sit back and let this happen."