Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-13-Speech-2-045-000"
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"en.20120313.6.2-045-000"2
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"Mr President, President Van Rompuy, first of all, let me congratulate you on your reappointment, Mr Van Rompuy. I am among those who, since you were first appointed, have been trying to explain to citizens that your task is a difficult one. I hope that you will continue to execute it with just as much persistence. I know that it is difficult.
Mr Barroso, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk about citizens. I am sorry to have to say today that Europe is losing its credibility. I will not get involved in the national electoral battle: this is neither the time nor the place for that. One may, however, ask why such statements may be publicly accepted. Due to the fact that they are not rejected by public opinion, they are adopted by a very large majority simply because our fellow citizens no longer have any faith in Europe. It may be possible to exercise faith in certain areas. However, I believe that for Europe, what we need is reality.
Today, I admire all those who, every month, or every week, make their speeches once again to say the same thing, and I pity those who write them, because what our citizens are looking for is action, and not words. We should spend less time speaking and more time taking action.
Today, there are various causes behind the weakening of Europe. The first is, clearly, the way that the crisis has led to nations turning in on themselves. Each country is seeing things only from its point of view, looking at what is going on nationally without taking into account the European dimension, which is the only one that might save us. The second cause is the weakening of the Commission. The Commission appears silent. I am not saying that the Commission is not doing anything: it is working, but no one notices what it is actually doing because there is no clear plan. What is missing is a small package of specific actions that would allow citizens to compare what has been announced with what has been done.
Let us take the case of Greece. It is very clear that Greece’s situation is tragic. Why are we giving the impression that it has now been resolved? It has not. One problem has been resolved to allow the plan to work, but in another year or two, problems will arise once again, because strong measures need to be taken. In addition, in the ‘two-pack’ that has been mentioned, I am proposing a safeguard measure for countries in difficulty. However, I was told by the Commission that it was an attack on the market. In fact, when you talk to the markets, what they want is to know where we are going and how we are getting there. They want to stick with the measures that have been taken, and not to change them every fortnight."@en1
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