Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-15-Speech-1-102"
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"en.20000515.6.1-102"2
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".
Mr President, you have heard the Commissioner’s request that the vote be delayed, that is, that it should not take place tomorrow. I must say that this situation disturbs me, because we are all working very quickly and the Commission seems to be saying that, since we are in a hurry, we must drive the car very slowly.
On principle, I am always willing to discuss issues again. Firstly, I must thank the spokespeople of the different Groups for their support, although I believe that they are lending their support to a very modest position by the committee, almost a critical type of support, because the Committee on Development and Cooperation should have gone much further than it decided. I repeat: in principle, I would not be opposed, but I do not believe that Parliament is in favour of delaying the vote. I do not feel at the moment that Parliament wishes to delay the vote. That would mean inviting the Commissioner to the Committee on Development next week and postponing our decision until June. I would not be opposed to that and I do not reject that possibility.
But I must say, Mr President, that it worries me profoundly that Parliament should have to take responsibility for prolonging something which, in fact, has been prolonged by all parties. Everyone has prolonged this process: the Council and the Commission. Now the pressure is on Parliament because we have been told that, if we do not accept the positions of the Council and of the Commission, the development programmes will come to a standstill, which would be terrible. I agree that it would be terrible if the cooperation programmes came to a standstill. However, Mr President, we should take note of who is being pressurised and who really bears the responsibility for prolonging this process and taking it to a third reading.
Therefore, Mr President, I would ask you to examine whether it would be proper to consult Parliament tomorrow on whether or not to vote on our positions. If we do vote on them tomorrow, it will fall to the Council and the Commission to ensure that the situation is not prolonged, which would create serious difficulties for South Africa and our own dignity. We must ask ourselves whether we are here solely to accept, at any time and under any kind of pressure, what the Council or the Commission proposes. If that is the case, then Parliament is unnecessary and all our dignity as an institution has been lost.
I am therefore not opposed to the vote being delayed for another month. I believe that it would be very dangerous to prolong this process, but, in any event, we must not take responsibility. The responsibility falls to those people who have dragged it out until now and who seem to want it to last even longer, perhaps because the issue of the designations of origin of wines and alcoholic drinks is being negotiated."@en1
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