Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-045"
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"en.20010613.1.3-045"2
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"Mr President, President Lincoln said you can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
What is currently happening in the aftermath of the Irish vote on the Nice Treaty is unacceptable by any standards of Western democracy. A Member State, under the provisions of the Treaty, has sounded out its people on the conclusion of Treaty changes. They have for a number of reasons declined these changes. This result cannot be ignored, either on the basis of a lower-than-normal turnout – what price legitimacy? – or because some people feel that the only good referendum result is a positive one.
As the EU moves towards enlargement, we must not suggest to countries waiting at the door of the European Union that democracy and the rule of law can simply be overruled, by tacitly encouraging the Irish Government to hold another referendum sometime in the future.
No tinkering around with additional protocols will convince the sceptical public to vote in favour of Treaty changes which are difficult to explain and bring nothing of real benefit to improve the effective operation of the European Union. There is only one way to reassure public opinion and maintain the vital goal of EU enlargement. The Nice Treaty must in time cease to exist. In these circumstances no treaty in these circumstances is better than a bad treaty. Instead we now urgently need to hold a genuine, substantial debate about the future of the European Union. The idea of a non-binding convention, to which other speakers have referred, is an idea whose time has now come.
This process will only be successful, however, if all European citizens are involved and consulted on these essential issues. By the end of 2003 at the latest, the national parliaments should then be able to ratify either the relevant provisions of the Nice Treaty or those of the convention. Should the European Council not follow this course and be seen to be trampling on the democratic procedures in small Member States, this will only serve to further alienate a European public which is genuinely in search of more information. Europe and its institutions can only be built with the long-lasting support of its peoples."@en1
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