Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-15-Speech-2-038"
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"en.20020115.1.2-038"2
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"Mr President, in any election held by secret ballot in an Assembly, there is always an element of risk and there is always an aura of suspense. I must say that at the end of a race that has enthralled us all, you have come first, you have crossed the finish line, and you have now been elected President. We would like to congratulate you, of course. And we think that you are the type of President that we want. I have become familiar, at the Conference of Presidents meetings, with your sense of diplomacy and your witty, but firm, remarks.
That may be the case but, throughout today’s proceedings, Mr President, I felt your concern, I shared your nerves when faced with the uncertainty of the ballot and the final outcome was a great relief to both of us when it was announced.
When you were elected, the first thing you said was that you were President of the whole House, that you were President of all Members, of those who voted for you, and of those who had not. You are now everyone’s President. Of course, if you speak to each Member individually, you would discover that many more Members voted for you than the number credited to your name. But that is how things stand at the end of the day.
The promises that you are making, Mr President, given your Irish nature, must not be directed to any one Member of this House. Therefore, when you decide, at the beginning of your presidency, to buy a drink, I can understand the concern of the Irish
half of your nature, which has to pay. So, if I may, I would say to you that if you want to be honest and keep your promises, you will not buy just one drink for just one person, but you will have to buy 626 drinks – one for each Member who is here. Yes, that is what it means, Mr President!
I would like to end on a slightly more serious note. The group that I chair, the Union for Europe of the Nations Group, was struck by the first remarks that you made regarding the need to protect the diversity of our cultures, because Europe will become stronger by adding the characteristics of each nation and not by trying to get rid of these differences which is what some are seeking to do. We have taken note of this as well. We are counting on you to do this. You can count on us to support you but you can also count on us, if it is necessary, to keep a close eye on the decisions that are being taken."@en1
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