Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-16-Speech-2-027"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070116.3.2-027"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, my dear Hans-Gert, who would have guessed that you were a Jimmy Cliff fan? ‘You can get it if you really want!’ You have dreamed so long of getting your dream job that my congratulations to you on now having got it are heartfelt. Bravo! It was about time that you got to be President; we recognise that.
Like everyone else, we have no doubt whatever about the fact that you will be an independent President. Sometimes, it will be difficult, for example, when you are meant to be representing our House and feel the urge to hug a certain lady Head of Government; that is the sort of thing you can do as chairman of a group, but not now. Now that you are President of this House, your love for a Head of Government will have to take second place to the European ideal. I would like to see how that turns out. Tomorrow will be the first day of your probation.
Secondly, I would just like to say that the independence of a parliament is shown by the independence of those who run it. I hope that you were listening carefully to my colleague Mrs Frassoni’s speech; if not, we will send you a copy so you can read up on it ready for your work programme. In it, she talked about the independence of our administration. All of us here in this House must take a stand together to stop this place being run on party lines; we want the administration to be independent rather than politicised, and that is something for you, Mr Poettering, as our independent President, to do something about.
There is one thing I would like to add: it is that I know that the debate about Strasbourg is a difficult one; it is one that divides all our groups, with majorities and minorities in favour or against every conceivable position. Having this debated here in this House would be the decent thing to do, for we could then have a clear majority emerging in favour of the one-seat solution, the two-seat solution, or some other. I think it is unworthy of this House that we refuse to debate something that is a live issue everywhere else, so your second task is to make this House a place where issues are aired.
Now for your third task. When we come to debate the constitution, I ask that you consistently present the line that this is a problem that only public debate – but no intergovernmental conference – can resolve. It is this House, rather than some intergovernmental conference held under conditions of secrecy, that is the venue for public debate. That is your third and last task. Tell your beloved Federal Chancellor, and all the European Union’s Heads of Government, that we want this House to be the forum for debate.
Congratulations; I hope you will enjoy us, and we will support you.
We Greens also congratulate Mrs Frassoni on her outstanding result."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples