Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-14-Speech-3-043"
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"en.20010314.1.3-043"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, you have a reputation, not without reason, for being extraordinarily skilful, and your presentation has confirmed this. You have come here and flattered us, spoken of important contributions by the European Parliament in the past, found the relevant debates interesting and exciting and we thank you for your compliments. But how do they fit in with the facts? You were in Nice. What does the real future look like on paper?
The loser at Nice was the European Parliament. Instead of at least more transparency, we ended up with less democracy. We now have a Europe which looks like the late Habsburg empire in the 19th century. Then, the large landowners had all the votes, now it is the countries. And everything is obscure.
Now you talk of an open attitude to future procedures. Since I started working here as an elected representative of the people and before that during my work as a journalist, I have always wondered exactly what the people in power are thinking when they talk like you do and when they act like you do in the Council. What is it you really want? What is it you stand for? In school I was told that it was Parliament’s job to control and the government’s job to react. Where exactly are you reacting?
We knew where we stood with Konrad Adenauer, with François Mitterand and even with Helmut Kohl when it came to Europe. Where do we stand with the Council? Why do you not just say that, at the end of the day, you want a seriously democratic and transparent Europe, come what may? Do you really find it so hard to shoulder responsibility in front of your voters? What is wrong with Sweden? We admire your country – I personally am a great fan of your political transparency, but I am fast losing heart when it comes to these crucial issues regarding the future.
If, rather than lead, you merely lead astray, and up the wrong garden path at that, i.e. up the national path which hankers after the past rather than down the glorious path which will take us forward, then you run the risk of going down in history as the gravedigger of Europe, because you could not and would not explain to your citizens that the European Union plays an indispensable role in the age of globalisation and that this European Union is therefore in dire need of radical democratisation and practical application of the principle of subsidiarity.
I trust that Sweden will yet dare to act. Leave flattery and diplomatic skills behind you and profess your faith in the separation of powers and a European constitution. I am relying on your ambition."@en1
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