Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-041"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030701.1.2-041"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I too would like to congratulate the Greek Presidency of the Council on what it has achieved in its six months, in a difficult situation: on Iraq – as we have heard – and also on specific dossiers like the European Statute for Political Parties, where a lot of hard work was put in. The ministers will know that I do not say this just out of politeness because I have also voiced friendly criticism of some aspects of the Greek legal system. I did so, for instance, when a constituent of mine – Mr David Wilson – who is now facing an appeal in the Greek courts, was arrested and sentenced within 24 hours of his arrest to 12 years in jail, after some stowaway asylum-seekers were found hidden at the back of his lorry without his knowledge. So you know that my praise is genuine because sometimes I do not hesitate to criticise.
The key issue of the period of the Greek Presidency is the constitution. In the long run that will be the most significant thing. I congratulate the presidency on getting the form of words agreed in Thessaloniki – that the constitution will be the basis for the negotiation of a new treaty in the IGC.
The Convention has not quite finished its work. Part III, at least, is going to be subject to a technical revision: such technicalities as how to vote in the Council, the technique of voting by QMV or unanimity. That shows that technicalities can sometimes also be of the highest political significance. It is important that progress be made on that. But once we have a completed result from the Convention the battle then moves on to getting it intact through the IGC. The IGC must not unravel the Convention, must not pick it apart. As soon as we start moving one little bit of the constitution, there will somebody else who wants to remove another bit of it, and the whole thing could fall apart. On the contrary, we must all unite to say that this must be the basis on which we move forward. If there are going to be changes they should only be small, detailed and technical changes to the constitution.
I welcome the reference in the conclusions of Thessaloniki to the participation of Parliament in the IGC. The details still need to be spelt out but we now have an
from the Amsterdam and Nice negotiations that the European Parliament participates via its President in the meetings at the level of ministers and via two representatives at the level of the working group that does the negotiating. That at the very least should be the basis on which Parliament participates in this IGC."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples