Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-034"
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"en.20000614.3.3-034"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I agree with the words of chairman Poettering on this joint initiative and, if you will allow me, I would like first of all to remind you that ten years ago we achieved jointly – on that occasion we were the Christian Democratic Party, the Liberals and the Socialists – the inclusion in the Treaty of Maastricht of the article recognising the personality of the political parties. It fell to me at that time to negotiate its inclusion with President of the Council Lubbers and I would like to pay tribute to him because I believe that it was an important step.
We could have chosen to pose the question in reverse, that is to say, why, when the Commission had the monopoly on initiative for ten years, did it not take any step to regulate such an important issue? However, we are taking a constructive view. We want to resolve this problem which is not just a question of a legal vacuum but a constitutional problem for the European Union.
The current situation is becoming increasingly complicated. It was traditionally believed in the media that it was necessary to go ‘lobbying’ in Brussels, to behave like a pressure group. We managed to have the political parties recognised. In our countries they are a fundamental pillar of democracy. Nevertheless, in ten years, no progress has been made and we truly find ourselves in an increasingly difficult situation. We could go so far as to say that at least 75% of the Members of this House are affiliated to organisations which are not clandestine, certainly, but do not have legal status, and demands are continually being made of us, which we try to respect and comply with, by the Court of Auditors, a key institution within the European Union, but which must not be the institution which in reality establishes the legal framework.
We believe that it is absolutely essential, in order to ensure that it is the democracy of the people and not the power of money, which prevails in the Union, that the Commission should exercise its power of initiative responsibly at the moment. We have made certain useful suggestions so that we may find our way out of a situation which is not only unsatisfactory but also negative for the development of democracy in Europe."@en1
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