Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-25-Speech-3-141"
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"en.20001025.6.3-141"2
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"Unfortunately, the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs has not taken on board anything of what has happened in the European Union in recent years.
Only 40 per cent of people voted in the 1999 elections to the European Parliament, if countries with voting duties are discounted, as well as those which had national elections at the same time as elections to the European Parliament. This just goes to show how little enthusiasm there was for the EU federalist project in 1999. Now, in September 2000, the Danes have voted against membership of EMU, and people in a number of other Member States would certainly have voted against the EMU project, given the opportunity.
It is interesting to note that, on the night of the EMU referendum last month, the Danish Social Democrats were exultant when the votes from the upper class areas had been counted and disappointed when they saw how people in working-class areas had voted. This ought to act as a wake-up call to the fact that something is going wrong in the development of the EU.
In spite of these setbacks for the idea of a federal EU State, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs has now produced a further report designed to produce a constitution for the EU, in spite of the fact that this is not in any way something which people are demanding.
What is needed instead is a clearer definition of the ‘proximity principle’ in the European Union. At present, this principle is merely a tool for the EU itself, for it is at present at EU level that it is decided where the political decisions are to be made, with the result that the EU is claiming policy area after policy area for itself. What is more, there is a need to simplify the flexibility rules so that they do more to facilitate European cooperation in accordance with the wishes of the people of Europe. Moreover, those areas which do not concern the European Union and in which the Member States have the sovereign right to make decisions ought to be carefully demarcated."@en1
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