Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-044"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20071023.7.2-044"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, it is fitting that the Reform Treaty should be signed in the city which Caesar once named ‘Felicitas Julia’, because it has overcome years of attack, siege, even last-minute subterfuge, to emerge bloodied and bruised, yet more or less intact, as the blueprint for a more democratic and transparent European Union. So Felicitas, Jose. May your name, like Caesar’s, forever be associated with the historic changes you wrought in Lisbon – changes like normalising codecision, ending the tyranny of Council vetoes, placing energy, and justice and home affairs, under democratic scrutiny: these changes give our Union the capacity to confront the challenges of globalisation.
It is a pity that the Treaty is not simpler to digest, but – after being butchered by the ballpoint pens of civil servants from 27 Member States – what would you expect? Your famous poet Fernando Pessoa once wrote: ‘No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it’. Well, in this case, the culprit was national interest, which watered down, or rendered indecipherable, policies and practices that are in all of our interests.
Some of the national horse trading you engaged in made it look like comedy descending into farce: deciding that Austrian universities can break the law for another five years while the policemen look the other way, or creating two classes of European citizen: those with fundamental rights and those without. Or suggesting that the President of the European Parliament should forsake his right to vote; or, indeed, that Council has the right to determine Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. But the real tragedy is this: we saw not a single national leader return home flying the flag for Europe. Instead, they crowed about the opt-outs and the derogations and the exclusions which disfigure the text before us today.
How do you guys expect to convince the people if you sound so unconvinced yourselves? If the poverty of aspiration implicit in a minimalist treaty is reflected in your poverty of enthusiasm? Look, it is your right to act as you choose, but it is also your responsibility. The only thing this Parliament need regret amongst the many successes is the process. The codes of transparency and democracy which drove the Constitutional Convention were a good deal preferable to secretive summits, and backroom deals in the wee small hours of Thursday morning. Issues of such importance should not be decided in such a kamikaze manner.
Nonetheless, again: congratulations. I propose a toast, with my glass half full: two cheers for the Lisbon Treaty. Let us hope its advances move us forward faster, and convert cynicism into renewed belief."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples