Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-25-Speech-3-136"
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"en.20020925.5.3-136"2
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". – Mr President, there are just a couple of points I would like to make. They are both points, certainly the first, on which I hope to say rather more over the coming months.
The first point is that grumbling about the United States of America is not the same as having European foreign policy.
Equally, assuming that any European initiative is wrong and that any scintilla of disagreement with the United States is somehow high treason does not strike me as being a very good basis for the protection of the national interests of any Member State of the European Union.
I am always surprised that some of the most fierce protectors and protestors about national sovereignty seem to suppress that point of view as soon as Richard Pearl raises his voice.
So in the distinguished and ever noble presence of my honourable friend and publisher, ever noble despite the constitutional machinations of New Labour, I commend, as ever, the middle way. But if we are to take the middle way of European multilateralism providing more weight on our end of the transatlantic rope, being able to act as a counterpart and occasionally as a counterweight, then we have as European politicians to face up to the political and financial consequences of that. I hope that we will increasingly be prepared to do so.
There is a second point I should make in response to the honourable Member, Mr Barón Crespo. He asked for a report on destroyed EU financial projects. He will recall that we tried to provide the figures for Commission projects a few months ago. At present, we are trying to get information from Member States on all of their projects. It is not made easy by the situation on the ground. As soon as we have that information in as accurate a form as possible, we will of course share it with the honourable Member and the whole House. It is an important point and it should be possible to arrive at a figure.
However, the point that is most worrying is the shattered aspirations of the Palestinian territories and, it has to be said, the shattered aspirations of Israel as well. The sooner we have peace, the sooner we can restore a decent standard of living and quality of life for all the people who live in that region."@en1
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