Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-03-Speech-1-089"

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"The work done by Portugal, as the country holding the presidency, has not been easy. There have been many difficult questions during the spring, but Portugal has shown that it is a country which takes European issues very seriously. The Feira Summit was in many ways an interim meeting prior to the French Presidency. Unfortunately, the outcome of the Summit was partly overshadowed by the tragedy in Dover, which really raises an issue which urgently needs to be taken up at EU level. The Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party is delighted by the progress which has been achieved on, for example, the tax package and civil crisis management. We are pleased to have it confirmed that Greece is soon to be a member of the currency union. We are delighted about the formulations concerning enlargement. For liberals such as ourselves, no task is more important than that of unifying Europe. Where the reforms and the Intergovernmental Conference are concerned, we are disappointed, however. We should like to have seen more concrete results. Countries are still protecting their positions, and the debate about the EU’s future has only just begun. It is a welcome and wholly necessary debate. It must be conducted in all countries, in an open and unbiased way, and involve the citizens of all Member States. Minimum reforms in Nice will not be enough. Our citizens expect something more. They expect the EU to take proper steps forward towards an open, democratic Europe which can operate effectively with up to 40 Member States. We need to discuss the issues surrounding a constitution. The EU needs a constitution which, in a simple and understandable way, makes it clear what the EU is about and where responsibility lies. The baton has now been handed over to France. I feel a certain unease faced with the different signals emanating from the French Presidency. Even if different EU countries perhaps need, to some degree, to be progressing at different speeds, we hardly need a presidency which is moving at different speeds."@en1

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