Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-02-Speech-3-021"
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"en.20000202.4.3-021"2
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"Madam President, Mr President of the Commission, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and of the European Democrats views the events and the discussion of developments in Austria with alarm and disquiet. Feelings have run high in our group’s debate – I freely admit this and regard it as a sign of how strong our group is – and no problem or issue has ever produced so many requests to speak as there have been today in our group. I would like to thank all those who spoke with such resoluteness of purpose.
As the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and of the European Democrats, we also represent today the values of the founding fathers of European unification – Robert Schuman, Alcide de Gasperi, Konrad Adenauer and Winston Churchill, and there were many others – and the values of the founders of Europe are our values, even today in the year 2000. These principles are also the yardstick we use for assessing the activities, dealings and words of the Member States and also the governments to which we belong. At this point I would say: we have faith in our Austrian friends in the Austrian European People’s Party.
We must not forget that the European People’s Party, together with Alois Mock and Wolfgang Schüssel – one was the Minister for Trade and Commerce and the other was the Foreign Minister – was the party that did the most to pave the way for Austria’s entry into the European Union. We recall how in 1998, which is not very long ago at all, everyone here in Parliament spoke in positive terms of the Austrian Presidency, and the conduct of Wolfgang Schüssel, the Leader of the ÖVP, here in this Chamber, spoke of passion and commitment. The people of Austria have now voted and I believe we have nothing to gain from chastising the electorate. Nor should we forget that there were in fact negotiations with the SPÖ. I regret that they proved unsuccessful, but why is this so? Because the trade union orientated part of SPÖ was not prepared to lend its support to the promises Chancellor Klima made…
..., to wit, a redevelopment programme for the economy and finances. That is the truth, and no matter how loud your protests, you cannot sweep this aside. We anticipate that a government under the leadership of the ÖVP, if it comes to that, will represent and uphold the values and principles of our European People’s Party, and these principles constitute an unequivocal declared belief in the dignity of all human beings and in tolerance towards all human beings. Above all, they are the logical continuation of a policy of European unification, which the Republic of Austria has been pursuing in an exemplary manner for decades. We will assess the Austrian Government’s dealings, if it comes under the leadership of the ÖVP, in terms of the extent to which the state under the rule of law, democracy and freedom are guaranteed, and we would expressly like to thank you, Mr President of the Commission, and the Commission as a whole, for not waiting until today to issue an intelligent and balanced opinion in observance of the Treaties of the European Union, but doing so as early as yesterday. We are right behind you when you regard yourselves as the guardian of the Treaties, and so let us tread this path together. This is what we expect and have to say as the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and of the European Democrats. We want a Europe that upholds the rule of law, a Europe that embraces peace and tolerance. We do not want there to be isolation within Europe, rather we want to bring the peoples of Europe together, so as to enable the future of our continent in the twenty-first century to be one of freedom, democracy and peace.
So as to leave you in absolutely no doubt on one point: the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and of the European Democrats is united in its criticism of many of the statements made by the Leader of the FPÖ in Austria. We condemn the
he has made in the last few days, especially those against the French President, Jacques Chirac, and the Belgian Government. We categorically reject the things he has said.
We, the PPE-DE Group, champion human dignity, the state under the rule of law, democracy and freedom, and we defend these principles and values across the political spectrum.
The Christian Democrats, who form a key element of our group – and a great many people are probably unaware of this – evolved from the opposition to the totalitarianism of National Socialism, which was every bit as inhuman, but also to the totalitarianism of those despisers of mankind, the Communists."@en1
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"(Applause from the right, loud heckling from the left)"1
"(Loud applause from the PPE-DE Group)"1
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