Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-22-Speech-3-063"
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"en.20050622.13.3-063"2
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"Mr President, when Mr Juncker came to this Parliament in January to set out his presidency’s priorities, the UK Independence Party reminded him that he had spoken about a window of opportunity to cut a quick deal on the EU budget, including the British rebate. We pointed out that Mr Juncker was under the impression that he could revise in just six months arrangements that had taken five years to negotiate. I do not know whether Mr Juncker was being naive or arrogant, but last week he counted the cost of it.
It has been suggested in the media that Mr Blair allowed the rebate to be discussed when such discussions were not necessary, thereby falling into a trap laid by President Chirac who wished to distract attention from the French ‘no’ vote. In fact the rebate was always going to be discussed last week because Mr Juncker was determined it should be. His window of opportunity was almost closed, the curtain rapidly falling across his presidency. Mr Juncker is right about one thing: the EU is in profound crisis and for that we can look back in gratitude upon his six months at its helm.
I would also like to thank Mr Juncker for his verdict on the French and Dutch ‘no’ votes. His quote, ‘I want to believe obstinately that neither the French or the Dutch have rejected the Constitutional Treaty’, will go down in history as being typical of the attitude of the EU’s political elite in the 21st century.
I come from Devon, where we are often referred to as simple country folk. Despite – or perhaps because of – my simplistic outlook on life, I found the EU Constitution incredibly easy to understand. It is abundantly clear that if you wish to see your country retain its independence, you have to vote ‘no’. Clearly the French and the Dutch share a Devonian’s ability to understand it. What part of the word ‘no’ does Mr Juncker not understand?"@en1
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