Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-28-Speech-3-036"
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"en.20011128.4.3-036"2
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"Mr President, despite all the fine words, I cannot shake off the impression that the Laeken Summit is actually intended to clean up the very soiled image of the Belgian Presidency, an attempt to brush successive howlers by the Verhofstadt-Michel government team under the carpet.
These days, one only has to read the foreign quality press, such as The Spectator and The Wall Street Journal, to realise how much damage this Belgian government is currently causing by its incompetent behaviour and, for example, by the insults which Minister Michel, present at the moment, has addressed to Austria and Italy.
That is unfortunate, for the Belgian Presidency could have easily played a significant role in this time of debate about Europe’s core tasks, about Europe’s borders and about the democratic deficit.
After all, we know from experience that the Single Belgian Federal State does not work along democratic lines and that consequently, a Single European Federal State cannot work democratically either. We know from experience that, for example, matters of social security, are best decided at the level of the individual nations and that the principle of subsidiarity has to be followed to the letter. We know from experience that a high level of respect is needed for linguistic and cultural differences if we are to co-exist in a proper, democratic way.
We know from experience that problems arise when people, citizens, and voters cannot identify with the political structure which decides on their fates. In my country, Flanders, 70% of those questioned cannot name even one European institution and nearly 40% do not realise that they elect the MEPs. Anyway, this should all be steamrollered by the Laeken propaganda machine, and in that way, the Belgian Presidency will finish as it started: insignificant and at the service of the inflated egos of a few ministers."@en1
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