Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-02-Speech-3-010"
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"en.20030702.1.3-010"2
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"Mr President-in-Office, until last night your programme was available only on your website and only in Italian and it is still now available only in Italian and English. While I have the good fortune to use a computer and to read both languages, some colleagues do not. I hope this is not a presage.
These two policy areas are linked. You say very little in your programme about CAP reform and yet at present every cow in Europe gets a subsidy of EUR 2 a day, while one billion of our fellow citizens worldwide must survive on less than EUR 1 a day. Unless we open our markets to farm produce from developing countries, their people will vote with their feet. The policies you propose on justice and home affairs seek mainly to prevent immigration. They will not work because you cannot beat the law of supply and demand which operates in labour markets like elsewhere. When you tell us you are concerned about Europe's reputation '
please bear in mind that white Caucasians are in a minority on our planet. We hope that you will be guided in justice and home affairs by the balanced approach of the Greek Presidency, rather than by the tenor of Seville.
Mr President-in-Office, your country assumes the presidency following a highly successful Hellenic Presidency, marked by the search for compromise and agreement. Liberal Democrats in this House hope that in your tenure in the Chair you will, in your words and actions, respect the dignity of the office and honour Italy's traditional European vocation.
Your primary task will be to convene the IGC to examine the draft Constitution. My group shares your ambition to finish this work as soon as possible, and in good time before next year's elections. We trust that you will provide adequate representation of the European and national parliaments whose involvement in the Convention helped make it such a success. But the future of Europe is up to the Member States. If they continue to fight over it, it will be not a Treaty of Rome – not even a Treaty of Dublin – but perhaps a Treaty of Utrecht, representing peace through exhaustion.
Liberal Democrats agree with your priorities on the European economy. Our economy is in a bad way; the German motor of European growth is stalling. So initiatives to revive growth are welcome. Yet the completion of the trans-European transport networks must be viewed as a means to an economic end – the smoother functioning of the internal market – and not as an end in itself.
As a British Liberal, I am delighted by the fidelity of your programme to John Maynard Keynes, and my delight is matched only by my surprise. However, I hope you agree that the spending you propose on TENs and on defence must be compatible with Member States' commitments under the Stability Pact, which is already under great strain.
For Liberals the continuing value of Keynes lies in his insistence on solidarity. Your programme speaks much of consumers, but we are citizens first and foremost. Market ideology tricks people into equating buying power with voting power, and it robs us of the civic freedom by which we control the social consequences of our private choices. Where regulation is needed is where the gains from remedying market failure for citizens or the environment outweigh the costs of government intervention. In Italian political debate this is the difference between
in which we believe, and
which we very much reject.
My group supports the closer cooperation you propose with countries around the new borders of the EU, but we should not offer false hope of membership to our neighbours. Closer relations with the Union must be linked to democracy, respect for human rights and development of a market economy. We particularly welcome your emphasis on the Euro-Med partnership, which has long been a Liberal priority, and your plans for Albania, where Italy can surely show a lead.
Your programme's proposals on transatlantic relations, which are on the mend after the breakdown caused by the crisis over Iraq, and your aim to rebuild ties with America are welcome. However, while seeking common ground with the United States, we must not shy from speaking up for Europe's interests where we disagree, and we welcome the strength of your statement on the International Criminal Court
On the Middle East too, the Union must project its voice in the Quartet strongly and clearly. Assistance in rebuilding the Palestinian economy must be conditional on action against terrorism, as improved cooperation with Israel must be conditional on progress in implementing the road map, notably on dismantling settlements.
On agriculture and on immigration, Liberal Democrats find much less in common with your priorities."@en1
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"Cercheremo di fare bella figura per l'Europa', lei ha detto"1
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