Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-163"
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"en.20080219.28.2-163"2
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".
Mr President, Prime Minister. The response to the referendums on the EU Constitution in France and the Netherlands in 2005 is an example of undemocratic tendencies in European politics. The political elite is only interested in listening to the people and respecting the popular will if the subjects obligingly and obediently say ‘yes’ to more EU federalism.
In conjunction with the discussions on the Lisbon Treaty, Prime Minister Reinfeldt should have acted like a champion of democracy by stating that the results of the referendums in fact meant that the Treaty had failed.
Furthermore, Reinfeldt could have called for a more intergovernmental treaty, argued for flexible integration, demanded exemption from the euro, and asked for the commuting to Strasbourg to be ended. He did none of these things.
So what will happen under the Swedish Presidency in 2009? The overriding aim should have been to reform and modernise EU cooperation and make it more effective. Mr Reinfeldt should thus have given notice that Sweden would prioritise a reform of the agricultural policy and demand an end to the European Parliament’s travelling circus.
Instead of working for a leaner but keener EU, the Swedish Government seems rather to be aiming for a broader and more meddlesome EU. In Sweden popular criticism of further EU federalism is widespread, but in practice it is non-existent among the political elite. There are good grounds for questioning to what extent our elected representatives really represent the people.
Finally, I would like to offer Fredrik Reinfeldt a good bottle of Alsace wine if he can give a single example of a law which could have been passed under the rejected EU Constitution but cannot under the revised version. Do you accept the challenge, Mr Reinfeldt?"@en1
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