Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-048"

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"Mr President, our Group wishes to thank the rapporteurs, Messrs Dimitrakopoulos and Leinen, for the important work which they have carried out. I must also tell them that, within my group, there are differing views, according to differing national experiences. I will say the same thing here that I have said in my group: the debate is not whether we say yes or no to federalism. The debate is how to go about European construction at the point of enlargement. It is making sure that we do not just build a Europe of the States and a Europe of the people, but, especially, a Europe of the citizens. We must create a fully democratic institutional fabric. We know that there are democratic deficits and that they are considerable. At the moment the challenge in the face of enlargement is to achieve, as the rapporteurs have said, greater efficiency and greater democracy. The Intergovernmental Conference cannot end with the same disappointment that we had in Amsterdam. We cannot create an Amsterdam 2. We have to create a Treaty which gives rise to genuine European construction in which more than 400 million Europeans can share economic prosperity, a social dimension and a democratic life. This is the great challenge for the European institutions and for European politics. My vision of European construction is compatible with the fundamental lines which are laid out in the report which we are discussing today. It is, of course, necessary to give the Commission the powers it needs and make it responsible to Parliament. This is precisely the issue. We must clearly define the different democratic powers in the field of European competences and we must know who is making decisions and to whom they are responsible. Mr President, Parliament does not take a corporate position. Our minimum demand is that Parliament be treated as an adult which has to request that the Commission take certain responsibilities, but which also has to participate actively in European construction on behalf of the European citizens. On behalf of the European citizens, we have to ask today not only for that fine-tuning of decision making but also for the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaty. The Charter of Fundamental Rights must give citizens the capacity to demand compliance with these rights in the European courts. This is the position which we can adopt in our Group, asking for more efficiency and more democracy."@en1

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