Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-021"
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"en.20100907.4.2-021"2
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"Mr President, perhaps I might also be permitted to use both of my speaking times together to speak for three minutes.
The European project – if we are debating the state of the Union – seems to many people right across Europe to be in serious jeopardy in four respects. The prosperity and the social security of Europe seem to people to be at risk. The financial crisis and the – perhaps futile – help given to Greece have proven that to people, while the increasing mass unemployment and the mass immigration into our social systems also prove this to them. In this regard, the Union comes across to people as a toothless tiger that is not able to exercise control of the financial markets or to develop appropriate criteria.
Secondly, people feel that civil freedom is at risk. There is barely any direct democracy in the Union. It is treated with contempt, like, for example, in the first Irish referendum or in the referendums in France and the Netherlands. Data storage, for example, as manifested through the SWIFT agreement with the United States, gives people the feeling of being permanently spied on. Regulation in the context of a paternalistic system is spreading increasingly in the Union, giving citizens the impression that their personal freedom is being curtailed. The freedom of thought and speech is also increasingly being jeopardised through political correctness. In this context, I refer to the debate about Mr Sarrazin in Germany.
Thirdly, people feel that cultural diversity and the national identity of the European peoples are at risk. Cultural assimilation and spiritual globalisation will have this effect, as will mass immigration, and so will Islamification and abuse of the asylum system, of course. The national identity of the European peoples is probably in serious jeopardy.
Fourthly, respect for Europe in the world is in serious jeopardy. In terms of foreign policy, Europe has become a laughing stock. The example of the Middle East negotiations has been mentioned, where Europe was not even at the table, even though we are the big paymaster throughout the world. Europe barely has any recognition in the world and is, in reality, no great player in terms of foreign policy or global policy.
We have managed to bring this European Union to a current state of development where, internally, it is creating a system that its citizens find increasingly oppressive and stringent, that fails to take account of regionalism, cultural diversity and similar factors, and which appears weak to the outside world. Inwardly harsh and regimented towards its citizens, employing centralism and bureaucracy, and outwardly a Europe that is weak, has no place in the world, and is not capable of really securing European interests globally.
That is the state of the Union, a Union that is no longer really prepared to secure the interests of the European peoples and the interests of European citizens."@en1
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