Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-18-Speech-1-145"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080218.24.1-145"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, firstly I would like to thank Ms Fourtou. I am always in awe of her grasp of the detail in this very complex matter.
The Modernised Customs Code, as the Commissioner has heard me say before, is an amazingly boring but ever so important piece of law from the Commission. In 1975, when the United Kingdom voted in a referendum that we should actually be having now (a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty) – a referendum to come into this club – we thought we were voting to come into a free-trade area. What people got was, in fact, a customs union, and since I have been here I have been working hard on this particular report, because getting this Customs Code right and modernising it correctly is possibly the most important thing we can do until the whole thing is rejuvenated, as the Commissioner said, within the system of e-customs, making trade much more easy and duty collection much more simple across the Union.
However, as with all things European, we do not move forward as quickly as some of us would like – if we move forward at all. There are still barriers that are contained within this text. Some are pretty much built-in, until there is a complete wipe-clean of the slate and we start all over. What is an Authorised Economic Operator? What qualification should customs representatives – or AEOs, as they are known – have? Could these be used in the future as barriers to stop people coming into the business as start-ups, or indeed existing businesses running in Europe spreading across the rest of it?
This Modernised Customs Code is actually a very good document, on balance, but it could have been very much better as well. Alas, we have to compromise in this House a little too often, but I hope that, on balance, this will be good for the continent of Europe."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples