Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-31-Speech-4-094"
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"en.20010531.3.4-094"2
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"The main task of the European Council in Nice was to make EU enlargement possible. All 15 national parliaments in the Member States will ratify the Treaty of Nice in 2001, regardless of the fact that the majority of members of the European Parliament appear to be dissatisfied with it. Therefore, we Swedish Christian Democrats believe that paragraph 42 of today’s report, which addresses issues such as the European Parliament’s assent to the accession treaties, could be worded so as to be much more positive and welcoming. How will this point be received by Estonia, Poland and Cyprus, for example?
My party cannot approve paragraph 25 of today’s report, which opens the way for the introduction of a European level of tax, and what is more with decision-making rules based on qualified majority voting. All experience shows that new levels of decision-making for taxation lead to higher taxes and less money left for the citizens of the EU, whom we represent.
Another key issue, apart from tax law, when it comes to the decision-making ability of each national parliament and government is defence policy. Therefore, the Swedish Christian Democratic Party also cannot approve paragraph 31 of the report in question which demands that defence policy be included in ‘enhanced cooperation’ or “flexible integration”.
We Swedish Christian Democrats are happy about two proposals in the report for historic and vital improvements. The first concerns improvements to the opportunity for citizens and national parliaments to access information about, and to monitor, the Council’s work, by making the meetings of the Council of Ministers open when the Council is adopting legislation. This is an issue which I have consistently brought up in the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, and for which I have found increasing support. This is now also the common view of Parliament as a whole. If it is to be possible to talk in terms of democracy – and not just diplomacy – within the EU, this openness must be achieved, i.e. we recommend approval of paragraph 11 of the resolution and Amendment 68.
The second proposal is about applying and refining the principle of subsidiarity. There is no single European people, but a great many. There is no single European mother tongue, but a great many. There is no single European nation, but a great many. There is no single European culture, but a great many.
Bearing in mind these circumstances, along with fundamental values such as human rights, democracy, openness, clarity in calls for political responsibility and guarantees of cultural and linguistic equality within the EU, the Swedish Christian Democrats welcome Amendment 77 on clearly delimiting the EU’s political competencies. This is fully in line with the fact that citizens do not want increased distance from the decision-makers and increasing European political centralisation."@en1
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