Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-05-Speech-3-147"
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"en.20000705.4.3-147"2
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"Mr President, the European Parliament has brought disgrace upon itself today and seriously undermined its own credibility. It has just refused to set up a committee of inquiry into the ‘Echelon’ surveillance system set up by the United States, a worldwide system which violates civil liberties, distorts economic competition and attacks the basic interests of the countries of Europe.
In return, Parliament has appeased its conscience by adopting a greatly watered down procedure, a temporary committee which, under the terms of our Rules of Procedure, will have far fewer investigative powers than a committee of inquiry. And, in order to be really sure that it will be ineffectual, Parliament has drowned its mandate in vast questions such as risks from secret services in general to individual rights or the value of the protection offered by coding to the private lives of our citizens.
And yet, 172 Members – including us – took the initiative and called for a vote in favour of a committee of inquiry; however, the Conference of Presidents, under the influence of the Socialists and Christian Democrats, is taking its orders from someone – I certainly do not know who – who has managed to run this procedure off the pitch. This attitude contrasts with that of the French public prosecutor, who recently and courageously instructed our security service to investigate the Echelon network. For us, this illustrates the fact that, despite its proclamations, the European Parliament, cut off as it is from the people, is the weak link in the chain of civil protection and bends too easily under pressure from foreign interests.
To close, I should like to reiterate what I called for in my intervention on 30 March, i.e. that the ‘Echelon’ network should be neutralised or, if it is felt that it has a part to play in the fight against organised crime, its remit should be divided between the countries or entrusted to a properly controlled international organisation."@en1
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