Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-28-Speech-3-026"
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"en.20070328.12.3-026"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, although the word ‘historic’ is being devalued by over-frequent use, that should not deter us from calling situations historic when that is what they actually are. The situation in which we find ourselves today is one such, and, of all those who criticise the Berlin Declaration, I would ask just what they think would happen if it had not been made.
The twenty-seven Member States are home to 500 million people, who make up 8% of the world’s population, and that percentage is tending to decrease. As for China and India, now they are big countries. The United States possesses economic and military might that make it a superpower. If the integration of Europe fails and we end up with a multi-speed Europe, if Europe – which is small enough already – weakens itself by breaking up into its constituent parts, then it will fail. It is for that reason that we need all twenty-seven Member States and integration in Europe, for that is where our future lies.
If Europe were to fail, we would see the death not only of a constitutional treaty but also of an ideal, and what ideal is that? Let us not mince words about what lies in our past, what 50 years of integration have enabled us to overcome: hatred and intolerance, pretensions to Great Power status and the marginalisation of minorities, religious intolerance and the persecution of those who think differently about political matters.
Territorial integration has enabled us to put a stop to the ambitions of those who would be Great Powers; a combination of economic progress and social security has made social exclusion a thing of the past, and the concept of integration has defeated ethnic, religious and cultural intolerance, yet the things I have described are still there, for hatred, exclusion, oppression and even the striving to dominate others have now returned to our Union, not only in Eastern Europe, but throughout it.
These things would return to our Union with undiminished force if we were to wreck the process of integration, and that is why the cry to arms goes up to those who – under our President of Council, Mrs Merkel – are fighting for the continuation of the process of integration and for a deeper Union, to those who dedicate themselves to Europe’s values, the values that have made us strong and an example to others, for we cannot allow a situation in which the Commission, when negotiating with other states, says to them: ‘You, if you want to join the EU, must put yourselves through a process of transformation, a process that nullifies everything by which you were governed up to now, but we ourselves – the ones who are demanding this of you – are not able to reform ourselves’. How are we supposed to be credible if that is the case?
The situation in which we find ourselves today is a historic one, and you, Madam President-in-Office of the Council – although I have to admit that I, as a German Social Democrat, do not find it easy to say this – will, at home, as you go down this road, find us Socialists alongside you.
So, then, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, my compliments to you on the outstanding job of work you have done. For a long time, you kept your cards close to your chest – tactically speaking, that was smart of you – and, by the Berlin Declaration, you have achieved what was meant to be achieved by this point. You played the right move, and Europe was the winner, but the historic stage begins now, for now the question has to be asked as to what is to happen next.
It is perfectly plain – and I, personally, find it regrettable – that the constitutional treaty is not going to enter into force in its present form. That is something we will have to live with. This Constitution is not going to happen. That must not be taken to mean that there is no Constitution, even if the treaty does not bear the name of ‘constitution’; we Germans have been living for sixty years with a constitution that is called the ‘Basic Law’, and it makes a great constitution.
We are at the stage where the question has to be answered as to what is to become of this continent in the future, and that question is a crucial one. There are those who want another Europe, who reject the revision of the treaties in the belief that Nice was a treaty too far in any case, and that we are, despite it, enlarging anyway – whatever happens and whatever the cost. To these people – on behalf of my group and I believe also on behalf of the overwhelming majority in this House – I say this: ‘On the contrary, the process of European integration is not over; it must continue, and we want it to go on.’
The reason why we want it to continue is that we need it, and, to all those who want the European Union to be enlarged, we have to say that there will be no enlargements unless the Union is reformed and unless the Treaties are renewed. To Mr Kaczyński and Mr Klaus, I say that these gentlemen will do great harm to Croatia if they obstruct reform of the European Union.
I urge them not to let others pay the price for their policies.
Why is what we are doing now historic? I would like to see the advocates of the integration process displaying the same enthusiasm as you do, Madam President-in-Office of the Council. I would like to hear the advocates of an integrated Europe making as much noise as we hear its opponents doing. What is called for now is a bit more readiness for the fight, for, while Europe thinks of itself as big, it is in fact small."@en1
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