Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-102"
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"en.20010613.3.3-102"2
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"The Irish 'No' was not a 'No' to enlargement. Not one political party campaigned against enlargement. Only one non-party organisation did so. The Irish people have spoken on Nice and their decision will be respected. The people of the other 14 member states are also entitled to have their say on the treaty in accordance with their constitutions. For them it will be expressed through their democratically elected parliaments. They must not be denied that right.
As a democracy where the people are sovereign, the Irish people are also entitled to decide to revisit their decision to confirm it or to reverse it. It is my view that we now need a sustained debate on Nice and for those parties who supported Nice to seek a mandate at the next general election, which will take place by June 2002, to present a new proposal on Nice to the people before December 2002.
Myself and my colleague, John Cushnahan have published a seven-point initiative on measures, which we feel could help to clarify the issues and to assuage fears in Ireland. I am happy to report that one of those, the establishment of an Irish Forum on the Future of Europe, has now been adopted by the Irish Government. It should, in my view act in parallel with and interact with the European Convention proposed by the Socialist Group and which Minister Lindh has this morning supported as a proposal for Gothenburg.
It is not easy to discern the myriad of concerns, some domestic, some European, which gave rise to the No result. There is however one overriding and general concern: The sense that people are losing control of their government and their lives.
People know that the European Project is necessary and important to them. But people are at a loss to know how they fit into the scheme of things. The bottom line is that if we want people in every European country to initiate a new experiment in sharing their democracy, sharing their sovereignty, sharing the benefits of their freedoms, then we as their elected representatives have to lead courageously by spelling out in great detail how it will all work.
The rights of each and every nation state and each and every single person who lives in Europe must be guaranteed. I believe that can best be done through a New Federalism, based on a European Constitution. So far, we only have the vaguest outline of what that might look like. We have a mountain to climb but I am confident that the people in Ireland and the rest of Europe will rise to the challenge when they are given a chance."@en1
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