Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-028"

PredicateValue (sorted: default)
rdf:type
dcterms:Date
dcterms:Is Part Of
dcterms:Language
lpv:document identification number
"en.20010314.1.3-028"2
lpv:hasSubsequent
lpv:speaker
lpv:spokenAs
lpv:translated text
"Mr President, the European Union has a problem in that, despite the systems it has established and the extensive jargon and impressive rhetoric it makes use of, its people are either indifferent to, or directly opposed to, the integration process that has been on the agenda in recent years. This is referred to by the polite euphemism of a ‘democratic deficit’. The reason why it is a euphemism or understatement is that the institutions operate in practice in a way that actively contributes to eliminating participation by the people. It is actively anti-democratic. Against that background, it is, if anything, absurd to attend today’s debate. The idea is to establish a democratic dialogue. It sounds so appealing, of course, but this very project reflects a total misunderstanding of the nature of democracy. Democracy is literally government by the people, which means that the people’s wishes, demands and political views prevail, without direction from above. What is now on the agenda is very reminiscent of another union which collapsed a few years ago. It is the same trend and the same mechanism for development whereby living democracy is dismantled piece by piece in favour of government by an élite. That must be humiliating for the Swedish Presidency in particular. What is happening is in direct conflict with the best grassroots traditions in Scandinavia. Sweden has an unusually pronounced and progressive tradition of transparency and the rule of law, and the Swedes are the people in the European Union who most actively oppose the integration process. It is a most regrettable situation and a political identity crisis for our Swedish friends."@en1

Named graphs describing this resource:

1http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/English.ttl.gz
2http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/Events_and_structure.ttl.gz
3http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/spokenAs.ttl.gz

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph