Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-09-Speech-2-155"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2002-04-09"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Defence / armaments2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20020409.7.2-155"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2002-04-09-Speech-2-1562
lpv:speaker	lp:Gary Titley2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, Commissioner Patten challenged us to justify to our electorate a demand for an increase in defence expenditure. He is right to suggest that it would not be very popular. However, what we can have is much more efficient and effective defence expenditure. In Kosovo we learned that while we spend 60% of what the Americans spend, we only get 10% of their power projection. I, as a taxpayer, would like to know what are we spending our money on in that case. The answer to that is: waste, inefficiency and duplication, and that is the issue we have to address. It is the Commission's job to drive that forward. In the 1996 and 1997 communications the Commission seemed to be willing to do that. But where the Santer Commission was prepared to go where angels feared to tread, this Commission has been cowering behind its barricades, frightened to take on the Member States on this issue and, in so doing, failing in its responsibilities to defend the Treaties. Could Commissioner Liikanen confirm for me that the Court of Justice decisions C-70/94 and C-83/94 give the Commission the power to challenge Member States on their interpretation of Article 296, which they have taken as a carte blanche, which is not what the Treaty of Rome intends? We want the Commission to move forward. I welcome what Commissioner Liikanen has said, but I want to see more rapid progress. We cannot send our troops into action unless we have the capability to support them. As George Robertson has said, being ready for battle is like pregnancy: you either are or you are not! You cannot proceed on the basis, as the Spanish Defence Minister has said, that we are addressing a third of our capability requirements. Why only a third? We have to address them all if we are serious about a European defence identity. So I want to see this agenda being driven forward. We need somebody with responsibility. In football terms, we need a Roy Keane to move this agenda forward to ensure that we have the capabilities we need."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	unknown; Labour Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 chair; Conference of Delegation Chairs (2002-03-13--2002-09-24)3 member; Delegation to the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Committee (EEA) (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 chair; Delegation to the EU-Lithuania Joint Parliamentary Committee (2002-02-07--2002-09-19)3 member; PES (1999-07-20--2003-05-20)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Slovenia Joint Parliamentary Committee (2002-02-07--2004-04-30)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Titley (PSE )."1

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