Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-01-17-Speech-2-033-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120117.4.2-033-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Dear colleagues, thank you for your kind words – and for the less kind words, thank you as well. This is an emotional moment for me and for a lot of my friends. If you will allow me, in addition to my thanks to all of you, I shall make a personal observation. As I mentioned, I shall try to be the President of all of you, irrespective of your political and group affiliations. This is a duty and it is a promise.
Ladies and gentlemen, before we convene this afternoon, I feel a great need, in my capacity as newly elected President of the European Parliament, to extend an offer to my fellow candidates. Mr Deva and Ms Wallis, because everything has been so fair and above board during the election campaign, I would like to keep in contact with you. When I saw all the blue and yellow balloons when I came in this morning I mistakenly thought I was witnessing a demonstration in support of Yulia Tymoshenko, until I realised it was Nirj Deva’s campaign. Diana, I hope we stay in contact because the contributions you made to the discussion and debate on the future of this Parliament during our election campaign were very important. I would hope that some of your ideas can be included in my own work, the outcome of the election notwithstanding. Thank you very much for this fair and open debate. I would be very pleased to work closely with you in the future.
I thank you, President Barroso. I think the complementarity in the action of the community institutions is not only necessary, it is vital for the European Union, and you can count on the European Parliament – or at least on the overwhelming majority of the European Parliament including, especially, on me – as your future ally in this fight to defend the Community method.
Ladies and gentlemen, the words you have addressed to me are, for me, very emotional. It is a responsibility of the highest importance that the President of the European Parliament should be a President of all the Members. I think everybody who knows me knows that I remain a social democrat, but I am not the president of social democracy in Europe: I am the President of the European Parliament. I assure you once more that my duty is to defend the interests of this House.
There is an additional point I would like to make and I would ask for your understanding here. This is an emotional moment for me, and not just for me. Here in this Chamber are a lot of my friends, not only on the floor of the House but also in the gallery. A former teacher from my school, when I was a seven-year-old-boy, is here. There are friends from my football team – which was not the most successful one, but was the best in my life. There are my friends from the city council, the former mayor of my city, the current mayor – my successor and my predecessor in the mayor’s office. The mayor of Aachen, my home city, is here. My friends and my family are here. I hope that you will allow me to welcome all of them. They are a part of my life.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen and former Presidents of Parliament, for being here today. It is an honour, not only for me, but for the European Parliament. It is a great pleasure, and seeing you here before me, I realise how long I have already spent as a Member of the European Parliament. I have had the privilege of being a Member under each one of your Presidencies, except that of Enrique Baron, who was President before I became a Member of the European Parliament, and who was my predecessor as President of the socialist group at the time. Thank you very much for being here and for honouring us with your presence, on behalf of myself and the European Parliament.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. There is one new thing that I would also like to show you: I believe that we must work together to improve our image and that it is hardly flattering when everyone comes back into the Chamber talking with their fellow Members, while the Commission and the Council are still speaking, or when other Members still have the floor. The President has always tried and failed to call order with a gavel … I have therefore decided to use a bell in the future. I believe this is a first step towards being better understood than before.
I would ask you to wait a moment longer because I have several procedural matters to raise. Thank you very much for all of your kind words and support."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples