Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-16-Speech-2-203"
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"en.20081216.31.2-203"2
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"Mr President, I want to begin by acknowledging the role that President Sarkozy has played during his time as President of the Council. His time at the helm has undoubtedly been high profile and focused, and we particularly recall his contribution to the peace process in Georgia in the aftermath of the invasion by Russian forces. We also recall his determination to secure a deal on the vital climate change and energy package, which is something that British Conservatives fully support, even though I regret we cannot offer the same support to the Lisbon Treaty.
We believe that the EU should continue to take a lead in relation to climate matters. However, the financial and economic crisis has inevitably dominated the last six months. Despite the claims made by the British Prime Minister that his response to the crisis is widely shared, let us not forget the remarks made by the German Finance Minister last week, who said of the British Government that the ‘same people who would never touch deficit spending’ in the past are now ‘tossing around billions’ and ‘the switch from supply-side politics all the way to crass Keynesianism is breathtaking’. Also, referring to the UK VAT rate, he said that ‘all this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off’. I regret that, because he was absolutely right: the British economy is heading for probably the longest and deepest recession of all the major EU economies, and the British Prime Minister has lost any claim to fiscal prudence and sound economic management.
President Sarkozy, here was a situation where the British Prime Minister should have followed the lead of other European leaders, and indeed followed the discipline that other countries have shown in economic management. May I again congratulate you on your six months in office. I hope that the next six months will be good for the people of Europe."@en1
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