Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-05-Speech-3-184"
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"en.20000705.5.3-184"2
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"Mr President, as I and many colleagues have argued for some time, the monetary union project is profoundly dangerous. It is economically naive and will do huge macroeconomic damage. Politically it is clearly intended to undermine the nation state, and thus it threatens democracy in Europe.
The proposal before us talks of information on the euro, but we already have all the information we need. Every newspaper I open has stories about the euro. Banks and accountancy firms are running seminars and briefing clients. This is not about information, this is about propaganda. I do not trust the Commission to provide unbiased information. The very idea is absurd. I was particularly horrified by the idea of Mrs Randzio-Plath that we should actually enrol schoolchildren as the stormtroopers of this euro propaganda blitz.
Now, if the 12 euro countries wish to undertake a propaganda campaign, that is no business of mine. But in three countries, Denmark, Sweden and Great Britain, the euro decision is not yet made. It would be a gross abuse of the democratic process for the Commission to undertake a euro propaganda campaign in those countries before referenda on the currency take place. It would be outrageous to take money from the taxpayer and to use it to influence the voters' decision.
In Britain, 70% of people are opposed to joining the euro. We do not want our money spent on promoting it either in the UK or elsewhere. I therefore have two demands to make of the Commission. Firstly, please tell us today that no such campaign will be undertaken in Great Britain, Denmark or Sweden. Secondly, please assure us that the share of funding which might have been spent on those countries is returned to their national exchequers so that people can see clearly and transparently that their money has not been squandered on objectives they do not support. Better still, cancel the whole project and put all the funds into a special account to help defray the enormous costs that will be incurred when the euro is eventually dismantled."@en1
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