Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-31-Speech-3-054"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2006-05-31"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Debate on the future of Europe with the participation of the Belgian Prime Minister, Member of the European Council (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"sv"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20060531.9.3-054"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2006-05-31-Speech-3-0552
lpv:speaker	lp:Nils Lundgren2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 member_of_the_bureau; IND/DEM (2004-07-20--2007-06-12)3 vice-chair; CONT (2004-07-23--2007-01-14)3 substitute; ECON (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3 unknown; Junilistan (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 member; ITRE (2004-07-21--2007-01-14)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, it is the nation state that is the bearer of democracy in Europe. Democracy as a political system requires a demos, a people whose citizens recognise a strong sense of community with each other and who are therefore prepared to take an extensive degree of responsibility for one another. A demos has common cultural traditions and a common history. A demos has a common political arena in which debate can take place and where conflicts can be analysed and resolved by democratic means. A demos has a national identity which shapes the very soil from which democracy can grow and in which it can stand tall and survive trials and tribulations. Mr Verhofstadt is a typical representative of the euro-elite who believe that it is possible to replace national identities with a rapidly assembled European identity in which a flag, national anthem and national day can be quickly launched, pretty much like the new currency. By attempting to push through a political union that lacks legitimacy in the eyes of Europeans, the EU establishment risks creating grass-roots opposition to the whole integration project. Mr Verhofstadt scornfully calls the freedom for us Europeans to trade with one another, settle where we want, study where we want and invest where we want ‘just a free trade zone’. Freedom, however, is not ‘just’ anything. Rather, ‘Freedom is the best thing that can be sought the whole world over’, to quote an old Swedish folk song from the Middle Ages. I would like to remind you that if, with the aid of a constitution, we attempt to force on the Member States a policy that will always lack the support of the people, we will be heading for the collapse of the European Union."@en1

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph