Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-03-Speech-3-096"

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"en.20031203.7.3-096"2
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"Madam President, most of what I had in mind to say has already been said and I endorse the speech made by Mr Poettering, who unfortunately has left. I should like to focus our attention on the following: the rules we freely accept and subscribe to, big and small, weak and strong, must be respected by everyone, whether we like it or not. Woe betide if the principles and regulations of the European Union were considered to apply and that, if they were in our interest we respected them and, if we did not like them, we ignored them. The most fundamental principle of democracy is respect for the law by everyone. If it does not satisfy us, we change it. If the Stability Pact does not satisfy, let it be abolished or amended. However, under no circumstances is it allowed for us to consider that it applies, but is not adhered to by those who do not like it, as is happening now. When it was discovered that the terms of the pact were being infringed by small Member States of the European Union, such as Portugal, they were obliged to proceed to apply harsh measures and spending cuts in order to reduce their deficit to below 3%, and none of the big Member States now in violation asked for the pact not to be applied. Now that the problem has unexpectedly hit their economy, they have discovered that the pact is anything from unsuitable or unacceptable. Dual standards. The reaction is therefore reasonable on the part of the small countries, who see that ‘some are more equal than others’, as George Orwell said. Thus their lack of faith in the new arrangements of the draft Constitution is being reinforced, with the possible danger of it not being ratified and of the European Union finding itself in a terrible impasse."@en1
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