Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-22-Speech-4-135"
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"en.20091022.18.4-135"2
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"Mr President, I do not think anyone can disagree with the need to promote and support democracy throughout the world, and outside the EU as well as within the EU. However, if you look back at lessons from history, I remember when the United States used to go and promote democracy around the world and people would say, ‘What about your own backyard, what about the African-Americans who cannot vote or who are denied the ability to vote?’ Years ago, Britain and other colonial masters used to say to the colonies ‘Let us spread democracy’, yet denied the vote to women.
Now you look at what the EU is doing. The EU is talking about spreading democracy across the EU, and my colleague Mr Hannan has already given many details of such hypocrisy. But there is one thing that we should remember. When we talk about spreading democracy, let us make sure we have our own house in order. When the French and the Dutch voted ‘no’ in the referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, we said we would have a period of reflection, and then we ignored the votes. When the Irish voted ‘no’ first time round, we said ‘Oh, tell you what, we agree with democracy but only if you vote the right way. We will give you another chance.’ It is time we put our own House in order."@en1
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