Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-057"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20031118.2.2-057"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"President Prodi, what I am going to say to you I say as a personal ally, as one who shares many of your European ideals, and I say it with regret that you have not gone over the bridge that I have built for you. It is not the manifesto that is at issue, and it is tendentious to reiterate that I, when I gave the interview to ‘Corriere della Sera’ last Monday evening, had not yet read the manifesto. I based my criticisms on an agency report, according to which you had given a recommendation to a party political list in Italy, and that is not compatible with your role as President of the European Commission!
... and you call yourselves democrats, when you do not even listen to what is being said? We always listen when your group chairman speaks, and that is good democratic practice. I will therefore conclude by saying this: President Prodi, it is for you alone to decide whether you want us, the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, to be alongside you. We want you to succeed because we all share in your success, but you yourself must be prepared to cross this bridge. If you are not prepared to cross this bridge, then you yourself must bear responsibility for the consequences.
Let me make it perfectly clear – and Mr Barón Crespo’s statement shows that I cannot be wrong in this – that the office of President of the European Commission is not compatible with being on a list of candidates in the European elections, and that this ought to result in your resignation. This comment, though, hung in the air. There was the question in your own college of whether you would carry on with your mandate until 1 November 2004. Thank God you clarified that, but the mere fact that these rumours could surface is not something for which we can applaud you. Mr President, I say this to you very much as a friend, but also in all earnest and also in restrained language: you need the support not only of one side of this House. If you carry on like this, we will, in future, no longer be able to support you.
We need a Commission – this is not party polemics, but my profound conviction ...
... we need a Commission at a difficult time, when we face enlargement, at a difficult time in which we have a constitution, and we need neither a Commission nor a Commission President who constantly meddles in the internal political debates in his own country, a country, let it be added, which still holds the Presidency of the European Union.
President Prodi, it is for you alone to decide whether the confidence of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats ..."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"(Sustained applause and heckling)"1
"(Vigorous applause, heckling)"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples