Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-026"
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"en.20010314.1.3-026"2
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"Mr President, I shall speak with a voice that has not been much heard in this debate so far, despite the two words in Mr Barnier's speech about regional parliaments. It must be remembered that Europe is not just a Europe of central institutions and Member States. Within the Member States there are self-governing countries – called, in the parlance of this House, "regions". Many of their citizens regard themselves as citizens of ancient European nations deserving as much recognition in this Union as others. Mr Poettering rightly said that the Community method is a good one from the point of view of small states. Let it also be a good method for small countries that are not, or not yet, Member States of this Union in their own right.
If, in the debate over the next three years, the voices of the democratically-elected parliaments of the countries and regions of Europe within the Member States are not heard properly and taken as fully into account as the voices of the Member States themselves, the "national" parliaments and – as Mrs Frassoni rightly said – the NGOs, then the debate will have been a failure.
Subsidiarity is a two-ended concept. At one end it requires that decisions be taken as close to the people affected as is consistent with efficiency and equity. But that implies that many decisions can only be taken at the other end, at the higher level, when, for the sake of equity and efficiency, the whole of a great polity must be included. That great polity will not do well, however, unless it avoids taking power from the little people, the more local levels of government. The "regions" of Europe must be properly represented in this discussion and proper attention must be paid to subsidiarity."@en1
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