Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-22-Speech-3-050-000"
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"en.20110622.14.3-050-000"2
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"Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Mr Barroso, ladies and gentlemen, a lot has already been said with regard to Greece. I would just like to add two thoughts on this matter.
The first is that, despite all the concern and fear being felt by the people, we must not lose sight of the principles. The two principles that define Europe are solidarity – we stand by this – and a sense of individual responsibility – that the Greek people and all those who receive acts of solidarity also take responsibility themselves.
The second thought is that mention has been made of the big test for Europe and of the concern that the project could perhaps even fail and that old ghosts that we had thought we had eradicated could return to the European Union. I would like to turn all of this around and look at it in a positive light. We should not just talk about the problems, but also about the successes. For example, we should mention that some of the Baltic States have managed to overcome the crisis and that, with European support, Ireland will succeed in returning to the bond markets next year. This could also be a big opportunity to prove to the people that we are stronger together than we are alone.
In this context, it is quite difficult to deal with the second major issue for the Council meeting, namely that of migration. However, there is a nice link that connects the two issues, because in relation to the migration issue, in particular Schengen, we also see the same principle at work, namely that one of Europe’s major successes is now being called into question as a result of national egotism. I am sure that we have all seen the figures indicating that 18 000 refugees have arrived in Italy. However, we all know that, for Italy, 18 000 refugees is hardly an excessive burden, because twice as many refugees have been received in the last year in Belgium alone. It was therefore not right of Italy to react in the way that it did. It was internal policymaking by Italy’s minister of reforms, Umberto Bossi. On account of a few hundred people, France responded by reintroducing border controls, and that, too, was for domestic political reasons. In Denmark, too, the reasons were of an internal political nature.
I would therefore like clear signals to be sent out from the Council meeting. When the question of migration and Schengen is discussed, the Heads of State or Government of the European Union must respond with the clear message that we do not want national egotism, in particular in this area. Instead we want to defend the huge success that is a free Europe. Mr Barroso, you will certainly have Parliament’s support in that."@en1
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