Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-07-Speech-3-104"
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"en.20091007.17.3-104"2
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"Mr President, I was elected in June to represent the South West of England and Gibraltar and during the election campaign, I was saddened by the large number of people I met who no longer support Britain’s membership of the EU. It saddened me because I believe that the EU has been a force for good in the world. It has promoted peace and reconciliation amongst the peoples of Europe. I hope it will continue to do so. The single market promotes trade and prosperity; world-leading companies such as Airbus in my constituency have shown what we can achieve when we pool our industrial resources.
When I was a student, I lived in France for 12 months and I came home a Francophile. I want Britain to enjoy warm and friendly relationships with all our European neighbours. My concern is that the current march towards political union without the support of the peoples of Europe threatens to undermine the good work that the EU has done. I respect the fact that the Irish people have now voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, though I think it disgraceful that they were pressurised into holding a second vote by countries which had not even held one referendum. The conduct of Gordon Brown is particularly reprehensible. His legacy to Britain will be not only to leave us bankrupt but also to deny the British people a vote on this latest transfer of power from Westminster to Brussels. Breaking his promise to hold a referendum threatens to undermine British support for the EU and I deeply regret that. I cannot understand why those in favour of political union seem determined to build this structure on the worst possible foundations. Do they not understand that a political union built without popular support is likely to end in failure?"@en1
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