Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-06-24-Speech-1-032-000"
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"en.20150624.16.1-032-000"2
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"Mr President, I would also like to thank the Latvian Presidency for their time in office. I know this is their last part-session. One of the problems holding back competitiveness in the EU is that, whatever the problem, the solutions proposed here seem to be more Europe and more regulation; and while we in the ECR campaign against red tape that holds back businesses from creating jobs, as we consider the issues to be discussed at the summit – Greece and the Mediterranean crisis – the solution seems to be not more red tape, but more sticking plaster, more Band-Aid.
Consider the patient that is the Greek economy. Each time we approach another Greek crisis, rather than sticking to the medicine, we propose more sticking plaster. The solution is yet again more expensive sticking plaster in the form of a bailout, until the next Greek crisis when the solution is yet again more sticking plaster – bailout or restructuring – until the next Greek crisis, and so on. If and when we reach another deal, how long will it be before we are back here again in this Chamber debating the same issues? How long until the eurozone runs out of sticking plaster? How long will this blame game go on between the Member States, with northern eurozone countries arguing that they can afford to keep Greece in the euro but not being honest with their taxpayers that a currency union requires fiscal transfers from the richer countries to the poorer countries – probably for ever? The Greek Government has to play its role and also behave responsibly, as other group leaders have said. It is time to stop the sticking plaster. It is time to start sticking to the rules.
If we look at the crisis in the Mediterranean, there is no easy answer, despite what many people claim. We cannot let no one in, yet we cannot let everyone in. But until we have a strategy, we will simply be providing lifeboats, plucking unfortunate desperate people from the sea. The Commission’s plan raises some important issues – targeting traffickers, processing applications and returning those not fleeing persecution; helping those in failing states on the front line. But while some EU countries could probably do more to help, proposing a quota system was a mistake because, instead of cooperation, the Commission has proposed coercion. So instead of solidarity, we now have polarity. Instead of countries working with each other, we have countries arguing with each other. Let us come together in a spirit of cooperation to alleviate the suffering of those in countries from which people flee, to process genuine applications before they make that hazardous journey, and to target the people traffickers who sell a false hope – not another sticking plaster solution until a future summit. And on security and defence, cooperation on coordination, not coercion, should be the principle that we will abide by.
In country after country, election after election, the voters are saying what the ECR has been saying: Europe cannot go on as it, Europe has to change. So as the British Prime Minister David Cameron introduces ideas for reform, do not see it as simply a shopping list for Britain, but seize it as a chance for genuine reform of the EU. Then, maybe, all of us in the EU will be better placed to face the challenges: the challenges within our borders, the challenges at our borders, and the challenges beyond our borders."@en1
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