Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-24-Speech-3-032"
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"en.20030924.1.3-032"2
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"Mr President, I think that all those of us who are well disposed towards the Convention should go out and pull no punches in making the fact public. There are some who criticise the Convention, but I think that most of us in the House today can see that the Convention method has worked. It is a success, and it has come to stay. There is, in actual fact, talk of a democratic step forward, and that is something we should emphasise. It is not perfect, but it is a democratic advance in relation to all the previous Intergovernmental Conferences. Moreover, the fact that we have had this broad debate is a sound foundation for the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference.
There are some who thought that the people should have been more fully involved. That is possibly the case, but people cannot perhaps be expected to run around discussing constitutional treaties in the middle of their everyday lives. That is of course, in a way, what they have elected ourselves, as MEPs, to do.
We have, however, devised, in this House, a number of basic conditions that would enable people to be involved more fully. I shall mention a couple of these conditions. First of all, simplification would in itself make it easier for people to take an interest and to understand the Treaty and European development.
Secondly, we have now brought about a situation which the basis of values on which we operate in Europe has been defined in detail. This is a very good thing, bringing the EU closer to the people and increasing their understanding. The fact that we have arranged for the practical political objectives of our cooperation to be specified is also of great value to people. I think, too, that we in Parliament can safely say that there are no other regions in the world that have those values and objectives underpinning their political cooperation. It is quite simply splendid.
The third good thing is that the national parliaments are now being given greater responsibility than they had previously, and the fourth is, of course, that those of us in Parliament are now obliged, in very practical terms, to follow up matters in all our work, irrespective of the subject. I can quote, as an example, Mr Cashman’s report, which we shall be debating later.
Last of all, I wish to refer to one matter that was not mentioned. We found no solution to the problem of our two homes. We did not resolve the basic issue, namely that the European Parliament itself must decide where it will hold its sessions. That, moreover, is an issue that I should very much like to call upon the Italian Presidency to address. I know it is difficult, but we shall never obtain proper acceptance of European work if the Members of the European Parliament chase around as they do at present."@en1
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