Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-15-Speech-3-300"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020515.10.3-300"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, some of my fellow Members have complained that this debate is taking place at night. I think that Mr Lamassoure, who is very knowledgeable on his country’s history, knows that some of the most important events have taken place at night. I would remind him of the night of 4 August 1789, when the French Revolutionary Assembly abolished all mediaeval and feudal rights.
I believe that we are in the midst of a revolutionary process and that Mr Lamassoure – perhaps without knowing – is starting a revolution. We have become accustomed to a European Union that has been developing organically, and maybe this is the reason why Mr Inglewood was not very inclined to agree with the new process. Now Mr Lamassoure is presenting us with a real alternative, that of heading towards a federal Europe.
The advantage of a federal Europe, highlighted by some of the previous speakers, such as Mr Karas, is that citizens, who at the moment are completely befuddled by all the Community jargon, will be able to understand it much more easily. For example, if there is a clear distinction between the competences which fall to European institutions and those which fall to Member States, we can dispense with this word which, in any case, no-one understands – subsidiarity. All we will need to say is that it does not fall within the competence of the European Union to deal with a particular issue because it falls within the national competence of the Member States.
Therefore, I believe that, on this point, I, like other members of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, have to support the Lamassoure proposal, because it makes particular reference to the Council’s slogan this year, which is ‘more Europe’, a slogan behind my very election as a Socialist MEP, because, in effect, we believe that we need to construct ‘more Europe’ and we believe that the way we can build more Europe is through federal procedures such as those proposed by Mr Lamassoure.
I believe there are some problems. For example, I have problems with the special constitutionality appeal, which
includes the famous subsidiarity appeal. The Court of Justice already acts as constitutional court, including the famous subsidiarity appeal, and I am slightly concerned about this appeal that appears to be on the horizon. We had it in Spain and we had to remove it because it was a means of blocking the process of Community development.
I fully expect that tomorrow this Parliament will support the Lamassoure proposal en masse and I hope that this will serve as a basis for work in the Convention and later in the Intergovernmental Conference."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples