Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-15-Speech-3-292"
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"en.20020515.10.3-292"2
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by explaining to the House that the British Conservative delegation is going to abstain on Mr Lamassoure's report, which, while it contains some excellent parts, also contains some parts which we cannot accept. I must emphasise that I am saying this not to gainsay the quality of the rapporteur's work or to underestimate the effort he has put in.
For the British, having no formal written constitution and having been a unitary country until quite recently, systematic analysis of the kind we are considering this evening is especially unfamiliar. Having said that, as part of the essential process of making Europe's political activities more clear, understandable, democratic and accountable and making Europe suitable for an enlarged Union, it is necessary that this work is done and done rigorously. The very fact that we find that we cannot support some of its conclusions does not seem to me to invalidate the underlying exercise.
Europe's constitutional arrangements need improving, clarifying and tidying up. But that process must not be allowed to be the excuse for creeping Euro-centralisation. Rather, it must be used to develop a Europe built around its nation-states, taking decisions together, according to evolving systems of decision-making, which make them suitable and appropriate to a 21st-century world."@en1
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