Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-22-Speech-3-071"
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"en.20050622.13.3-071"2
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"Mr President, Mr Juncker, Commissioner, I would like to start by thanking President Juncker for the way in which he reported on this European Council. I think that it was a great moment to hear a description of the work of the European Council, in application of the concept of transparency. It was very useful for such a report to be given in this House.
I thank him, too, for the conclusions to which he managed to bring the European Council with regard to ratification of the Constitution. I think that each population is free to decide whether or not it wants to continue with this process. In addition, a pause is vital because what can we do when a question is asked and we do not have the answer? Nobody yet knows what the French or Dutch will say in future, on what text, under what conditions. It is a question that is still ahead of us.
I would, however, like to give certain speakers and perhaps the Members of the Commission or others a warning. Saying that there is a problem of communication, and that it is because of this communication problem that two referenda resulted in a ‘no’, is a mistake. It is to imagine that the citizens do not understand. That is what this argument implies. I think that the citizens knew perfectly well what they were doing when they voted, and claiming that they voted the wrong way because they did not understand is, in a way, advocating a return to selective suffrage. I do not imagine that anyone in this House would call for such a development.
On the issue of the budget, I think that the Luxembourg Presidency has tried everything. The question is not really whether we are faced with national egos. It is whether we want to continue with a strategy of going the extra mile and of European added value. For this reason, we need to establish whether or not this terrible logic of a fair return, which was instituted by Mrs Thatcher several years ago and clearly continues to be favoured by some, must finally be sent back to the drawing board. In that respect, I think, Mr Juncker, that you have made some good proposals. We must continue with this debate. What I think is a shame is that, in the end, the grand ambitions of the Lisbon Strategy will not be served by the financial perspectives they need."@en1
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