Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-11-Speech-3-041"
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"en.20091111.13.3-041"2
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"Mr President, may I first congratulate the Swedish Presidency on progress at the recent summit in developing the European Union’s position on climate change. Tackling climate change is one of our highest priorities and is the kind of issue where we expect and want the European Union to take a strong lead. The balanced and measured agreement on financing arrangements is very welcome and places the Union in a strong position as we work towards Copenhagen.
But I must mention the debate that now seems to dominate Europe’s agenda: the appointments of the President of the European Council and the High Representative. We should start by defining clearly their scope and nature, and then we should establish the qualities and experience of the people needed to fill them. Surely it is logical for the European Council to invite formal nominations and to hear candidates, perhaps including Mr Verhofstadt, ahead of the decision.
Instead, the discussion is degenerating into a shabby debate between government leaders who appear only to be interested in sharing out jobs amongst themselves, be it from small or large countries, north, south, east, west, Left or Right, and not whether someone is actually the best candidate to take the responsibilities.
What is worse, some have even tried to divide the European Union into two classes of citizenship by saying that only individuals coming from a Member State in the Schengen area and in the euro area should be eligible. That, I am afraid, is discrimination which is unacceptable, and this on a day of history when we remember all those who have fallen in warfare and in a week when we have remembered the horrors of Kristallnacht and the tragic events which followed, and where we have celebrated the achievement of all those who contributed to the fall of Communism, in Poland, where it began, in Hungary, in the Baltic States, in countries throughout Eastern and Central Europe and, of course, ultimately in Berlin.
It is right to fight for freedom and values for all, not big jobs for the lucky few."@en1
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