Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-31-Speech-3-028"
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"en.20060531.9.3-028"2
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"Mr Verhofstadt, thank you very much for being here with us today because, in this period of generalised siesta that has, alas, also taken hold of the Commission and Parliament, I am delighted that you have brought the debate on the future of Europe here to us. We also hope that your generous efforts will help us, together with the other European Union Member States and our institutions, to bring a glimmer of enlightenment to this constant crisis.
We substantially agree with your vision for the institutions and we endorse what you have said about Lisbon. We can even agree on the fact that ratifications should continue, but we also think that it will be impossible to make France and the Netherlands accept the existing text and, moreover, your two-pronged strategy falls down, in our view, on the weakness of the political solutions. We are trapped in a perfectly obvious contradiction. If the European Union is to be loved by its citizens, it has to show them that it works, but in the last few years no great initiative has been taken on the environment issue, the jobs issue, peace, development, human rights or the integration of new citizens. Thus there is only one thing to say: institutions and policies are indissolubly linked, and that is where we no longer agree with you.
The majority of our citizens cannot be won over by the idea of a federal, democratic and peaceful union, based on thoroughly disquieting examples like the United States, China or India. Furthermore, neither the Socialists nor the Greens who did not vote for the Constitution will be won over by the idea that we must keep up with the growth seen in the United States, China or India, because such growth results in poverty and the consumption and wastage of resources.
I could not help noticing, Mr Verhofstadt, that in your speech you did not once mention the considerable environmental and ecological challenges that we are facing. That, unfortunately, may be a sign that the departure of the Greens from your government has perhaps led to a slight reversal in your thinking about the sustainability question.
Sadly, we also think that to talk about a European army in a situation in which we Europeans shilly-shally in most crises and are forced to follow the United States – and in which our credibility on all human rights issues and on the peace and disarmament question is rapidly losing momentum – clearly, to talk about an army is perhaps too great a leap forwards, and one that we do not endorse.
Mr Verhofstadt, we are of the opinion that a European Constitution is in fact necessary and that we have to find a way to win the citizens’ support for one, but we shall certainly not be able to do so with more market, more liberalisation and more firepower. We shall only succeed by genuinely changing Europe’s policies with a view to greater sustainability."@en1
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