Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-02-24-Speech-1-035-000"
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"en.20160224.13.1-035-000"2
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"Mr President, the deal struck last week was hard fought by all sides. Many countries had concerns and objections, but I am glad that those hurdles were overcome, aided by willpower, fuelled by packets of Haribo and sealed following a visit to the chip shop. We found an agreement that enshrines the United Kingdom’s special status as a country never joining the euro and never joining Schengen, as a country that does not wish to be part of the ratchet of the European political project, and that delivers a live—and—let—live agreement, one where the United Kingdom continues to play an active role in the European Union without facing discrimination in areas where it wishes to keep national control.
The ECR Group welcomes this deal, and now it is for the British people to pass judgement on these new terms. I will be supporting the campaign to remain in the European Union.
My reasoning is simple: Britain’s economic recovery, though good, is still fragile, and I will not put it at risk by tearing us away from the single market. I also believe that my constituents will be safer and my country more secure if we continue our cooperation with our European partners. There are good people who would disagree with me, and I respect their decision. If the British people decide to leave, then we must respect that choice and make it work. But there are also those in this Chamber who are not respectful of other people’s choices – we can hear them today jeering behind me – those who compare the EU with the Soviet Union. I think that is foolish and offensive to those who actually lived under the yoke of communism.
Because, unlike the USSR, any country is free to leave the European Union. Mr Farage, that is the will of the sovereign people. Being in the EU is a choice, and the Conservative Party will respect that choice. The voters in Britain will exercise their sovereignty and they will decide whether to remain or to leave, and in the UK we can now look forward to debating this subject for the next four months.
The EU must concentrate on the migration crisis it faces. The Dutch Prime Minister said we had six to eight weeks to save Schengen. He said that five weeks ago. In this Chamber we seem unwilling to accept that the migrant crisis was exacerbated when Chancellor Merkel said Germany would take people without limits, unilaterally defying a number of European rules. And – guess what – people are coming without limits. When some countries, like Hungary, apply the rules and defend the Schengen border, they are criticised, and when other countries break the rules, they are applauded.
We cannot begin to solve this crisis until we enforce the rules in place: to protect the external Schengen border, to focus on the basics of processing detention and returns, and to prevent asylum seekers and economic migrants moving around the EU at will. We need international action to end the conflict in Syria. We need to give priority to those refugees already in the camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, both with humanitarian aid and in offering them refuge. Is it not perverse that the EU gives priority to those who cross the Aegean, rather than those already classified as refugees by the United Nations?
Mr Tusk, I recommend that for the next EU summit, you order in copious amounts of chips from Maison Antoine and you tell the EU leaders to get cracking."@en1
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"(Applause and catcalls)"1
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