Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-26-Speech-3-156"
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"en.20051026.17.3-156"2
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"Mr President, as the first British Conservative to speak today, I should like to welcome the Prime Minister to Strasbourg. It is good to see you, Sir.
Like your predecessors, John Major and Margaret Thatcher, you came to power determined to set aside the legacy of British ambivalence towards the EU. Yet, like them, you soon came up against the hard knocks of reality. Like them, you were forced to realise that the aspirations and ambitions of the EU are entirely contrary to British interests.
You were welcomed in 1997 by European leaders, who believed that you were the man, finally, to bring Britain into the heart of Europe. Yet you never dared to face down the hostility of the British people towards the euro and now you never will.
Your offer of a referendum on the EU Constitution torpedoed the whole project; it led directly to the French referendum and to the ‘No’ votes in France and Holland.
Last June you made a very successful speech in this Chamber, yet your Presidency has run into the sand. You have little or nothing to show for it. You are here to survey the shattered wreckage of your broken European dreams. Your own Labour MEPs have opposed your modernisation agenda at every turn, notably on the working time directive. It may be New Labour in Westminster, but it is old Labour in Brussels.
So I should like to offer you a positive and constructive suggestion: depending on the outcome of the current Conservative leadership contest, it seems very likely that Conservative MEPs will leave the Group of the European People’s Party, perhaps as early as Christmas. It is too leftist and federalist for most Conservatives. For your part, you must be sick to death of the old-fashioned Socialists of the PSE Group, so why not pull your troops out from the PSE Group and apply to join the PPE Group? I am sure that the PPE leader, Mr Poettering, will look very favourably on your application. After all, Mr Poettering is about as New Labour as they come!"@en1
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