Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-02-Speech-3-081"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000202.6.3-081"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President-in-Office, on listening to the various interventions, you have understood that in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and also among the leaders of Parliament’s political groups, the decision prevailed – although not without some disagreement – to put our faith in the Portuguese Presidency, instead of creating more difficulties by postponing the start of the Intergovernmental Conference. I can assure you that it was not easy to achieve this, last week in the Committee I chair, but we eventually decided to back the Portuguese Presidency and we would like to win this wager.
You spoke to us about the start of your tour around the various capital cities and told us about the difficulties that some governments have in reaching a consensus in their own countries, and therefore in their parliaments. I would like you to bear in mind that yesterday we had a very worthwhile day of discussions and dialogue with the representatives of the 15 national parliaments, which were represented by competent and exacting delegations. The aim was not to draw conclusions – it was impossible to draw any – but the debate was certainly very encouraging. We need to be careful and be sure that national governments try to convince their respective parliaments to ratify solutions that correspond to the Union’s requirements for growth and that they do not hide behind supposed resistance put up by the parliaments to avoid signing appropriate conclusions at the Intergovernmental Conference table. However, we shall intensify our collaboration and our dialogue with the national parliaments for the entire duration of the Intergovernmental Conference.
Yesterday, we also discussed the Commission, represented by Commissioner Barnier, who gave its opinion. This effort was appreciated, even if different views were later expressed as regards the proposals, and moreover, Mr President-in-Office, you also expressed different views. Nevertheless, we must stress that many people are aware, as they were yesterday too, of the risk that enlargement could compromise the original plan for the construction of a political Europe, a risk that was, moreover, indicated in an interview that surely escaped no one’s attention, owing to the authority of the person being interviewed – Jacques Delors.
We must, therefore, ensure that at the Intergovernmental Conference we discuss how to consolidate the democratic bases of the Union and how to strengthen – and this has been discussed in the House even today, with regard to the situation in Austria – the system of principles, values and rights underpinning the Union and the role of the political institutions of the Union, with regard, among other things, to running the economy.
We are counting on the Portuguese Presidency, we are counting on ourselves and we are counting on the Commission so that we can hold constructive and decisive debates on all of this at the Intergovernmental Conference."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples