German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for a defence of democracy in the European Union ahead of the EU parliamentary elections in June. "Within our European Union, fundamental democratic values, indeed the European project, are being called into question by irresponsible populists," Steinmeier said on Tuesday in Prague at a conference on the accession of the Czech Republic and nine other states to the EU 20 years ago. "Let us realize what is at stake, especially now," he said. Once