Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-21-Speech-3-028"
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"en.19990721.3.3-028"2
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"(FR) Mr President, on behalf of the Union for a Europe of Nations Group, I would first like to briefly mention the lessons which can be drawn from the recent European elections. It seems to me that the massive and increasing abstention recorded in all of the European countries indicates the emergence and confirmation of a virtual Europe which is distancing itself more and more from European citizens. Another apparent sign of the increasing disinterest of the Europeans in European construction is the lack of interest in the euro, barely six months after its launch. It seems to me – and this is the second lesson to be drawn from the European elections – that an increasing euroscepticism amongst voters in numerous countries has been demonstrated, particularly in the United Kingdom and France, and I believe that by voting for the opposition parties in the large European countries, it is the Europe in which their governments participate that the citizens wanted to reject. I see an enormous paradox in yesterday"s election, on the part of the Right in this hemicycle, of a candidate who, however admirable, is a known federalist, when this does not apparently reflect the view expressed by the voters – particularly those of the Right – in the countries of Europe.
I do not believe that the legitimacy mentioned by the German Foreign Minister can be achieved by reproducing, on a European scale, the party systems to be found in the European countries. This legitimacy can only stem from a Europe which has been ‘reforged’ on the basis of national democracies rather than trying to create a virtual Europe which is ever more distant from the concerns of its citizens.
To return to the Cologne Summit and the consequences of the German Presidency, I will make three points. First of all, the Employment Pact which has been Europe"s old chestnut for a very long time. I believe that a certain German Chancellor whom we have still not forgotten, Helmut Kohl, used a phrase which seems to me to sum the situation up exactly. He said, ‘employment – in other words, unemployment – is and shall remain a national prerogative’. This is precisely the definition of this Europe which is seen to make plans but leaves the problems to the Member Nations.
The second point concerning the German Presidency and the six months that have just passed is the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. It is clear that this reform has been and still is a precondition to the negotiations to be held with the World Trade Organisation, which, as we well know, is an instrument of the dominant economy, that is, the American economy. The recent developments that we have seen with regard to the WTO, the way in which the new negotiations will be carried out and, particularly, the appointment of the Director General preferred by the Americans for the first round of the WTO, are very bad omens with regard to European interests. It seems to me that this Europe, which was born of the idea of the Common Market, has become a Single Market and will end up as nothing more than a part of a great global market. That will effectively mean the defeat of the Treaty of Rome project.
Lastly, the Kosovo affair has also demonstrated the impotence of the European Union and its total diplomatic and military dependence on the dominant military power of NATO. Furthermore, the appointment of the Secretary General of NATO as a representative of the European Common Foreign and Security Policy, appears to complete the picture, and brings to mind that phrase of a French diplomat who said that it is illusory to try to develop a European defence policy while building the European Central Bank in Fort Knox. I believe that the Kosovo affair and its favourable outcome have eclipsed the six months which have just passed. It is very important – for our group at least – that, in the course of the coming institutional reforms, a far greater importance is afforded to national democracies and national parliaments, instead of allowing Europe to sink deeper and distance itself even further from the citizens by creating the kind of democracy that I have described as virtual.
(Applause)"@en1
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