Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-03-Speech-3-218"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080903.23.3-218"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, allow me to start with some words of criticism. I think that it is rather cynical to make repeated reference, in a report on human rights, to the need to apply a number of provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon. As we all know, the Treaty was rejected in a democratic referendum in Ireland, and the reason it was rejected only in Ireland is that no other country has granted citizens the human right to give their democratic opinion on this Treaty. Besides, Lisbon was merely a carbon copy of a European constitution that had already been crushed in referendums in France and the Netherlands. Let us therefore begin by respecting the human rights of our own voters and no longer systematically referring to a treaty that has been voted down and is legally dead.
A second criticism is that this report is chock-full of good intentions, but the reality is rather different. We have just seen the end of the Olympic Games in China, where all our European democrats joined in standing side by side with a communist regime in a repeat performance of Nazi Germany in 1936. In these circumstances, it may be advisable for us to observe a couple of months’ ashamed silence – although I do admit that the report in its present form can be described as remarkably balanced by the standards of this House, and rightly criticises a large number of matters such as the situation in Cuba and Zimbabwe. However, it lacks a serious warning regarding worldwide Islamisation, which poses a threat to all the freedoms forming the very basis of our society.
Finally, a further objection regarding a matter close to my heart. In our own European countries, particularly my home country, Belgium, we are increasingly seeing muzzling laws that restrict freedom of expression and even introduce prison sentences for opinions constituting an offence, particularly in matters of immigration and Islamisation. I consider this a particularly worrying development and think that, in this regard, we must fight tooth and nail – including in this House, when we discuss human rights – to defend freedom of expression in our own EU Member States, too.
These have been three critical remarks on a report that, for the rest, is certainly not the worst we have seen here, and which we shall support provided no unacceptable amendments are adopted tomorrow."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples