Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-25-Speech-4-164"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100325.34.4-164"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, it was predictable, perhaps inexorable, that the European Union would leap on the financial crisis in Greece in order to advance its well-laid plans for the harmonisation of fiscal policy.
We have seen repeated calls for a European debt agency, for a European Monetary Fund, for pan-European taxation, so as not to have to go to the national electorates for a bail-out.
Mr Van Rompuy and the other Commissioners are, as honest federalists, exactly agreeing with the case that was made by British sceptics, which was that you cannot have monetary union without fiscal and economic union.
I think it was John Maynard Keynes who wrote ‘He who controls the currency controls the country’. I promise that is the only time I am going to quote Keynes approvingly.
In fact, let me give you a higher and better authority even than John Maynard Keynes. I refer you to the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 22. I am sure you will remember this. Our Lord is asked whether it is proper to pay taxes to Rome. He says: ‘Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money’. And they brought unto him a penny. And [Jesus] saith unto them, ‘Whose is this image and superscription?’ They say unto him: ‘Caesar’s’. And saith [Jesus] unto them: ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s’.
Now I am not arguing that Our Lord was on one side or the other of the debate about the euro. The point is that, when looking for the supreme symbol of temporal authority, the absolute sign of sovereignty, it is the coin! And so we have seen that the euro leads to common economic government. Thank heaven we had the foresight to keep the pound."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples