Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-13-Speech-1-086"
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"en.20030113.5.1-086"2
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"Mr President, we are all familiar with the historic entreaty ‘Sire, grant us the freedom to think!’ Today, and when voting on the Napolitano report, we would have to amend that and say, ‘Sire, grant us the freedom to vote!’ But who is the ‘Sire’ in this instance? The two gentlemen standing over there, Mr Corbett and Mr Wuermeling, Mr Corbett and Mr Méndez de Vigo, those who, even when something as central as nations' right to go to law is at stake, are trying to make a man out of a woman or the other way round, even though they know perfectly well that you cannot be just a little bit pregnant?
It is not of course by chance that, happily, no compromise motion has so far been tabled by those who have again been away pondering these matters. Instead, the decision is a clear-cut one: vote yes to the Leinen/Martin motion, which was adopted by a majority on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, and the regions get the right of appeal. I say this with an awareness of history and of the fact that the European Union's present constitutional arrangements have, to an enormous degree, come about as a matter of coincidence, so that, if I am from little Luxembourg, I can of course oppose the right of appeal – and quake in my boots when I do so – but am in a quite different position if I am from the Basque country or from some other region.
Here we are, trying to move this great European project forwards, not by shoring up privileges that have come about by accidents of history, but by opening the door to the new. I urge any Members watching this on the television screens – and there are still a few in the building – to push for a free vote and see to it that they get one tomorrow or the day after, and to make sure that this House gets some sort of chance to vote on item 8 of the Napolitano report, so that we do not get another soft, lame pseudo-compromise put forward and end up with nothing, but only looking foolish.
‘Sire, grant us the freedom to vote!’ – and remember the
: there is no democracy without transparency and voting that is open and fair."@en1
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