Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-008"
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"en.20031216.1.2-008"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen. Mr President-in-Office of the Council, when your Presidency of the Council began, you said that what concerned you was the football in Tokyo and we should point out that the Milan team reached the penalty stage. You did not even play in the second half. We can see the results.
This is despite the serious and professional work of the Italian Presidency – and I would like to publicly thank Mr Frattini, Mr Antonione for their efforts.
My group profoundly regrets the outcome of the Intergovernmental Conference and the fact that it was not possible to approve a Magna Carta, which may cause us an existential crisis if we do not provide a serious political response. We believe that we must recover the Community spirit, which is to take decisions together, combining our interests, acting in solidarity and not trying to block decisions. I say this with particular feeling, because my country was always in the vanguard of European integration and now it is in the rearguard.
I must also say, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, that you have said – and I believe this must be recorded in the Minutes – that 95% of the Constitution is not subject to debate, but is part of our
. I believe this is an important fact. Now, in order to resolve the other 5%, there is something that was demonstrated in Nice and which has now been ratified: that methods involving all-night negotiations, haggling, do not resolve the problem. And therefore, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, I would put a question to you: the Convention was not the outcome of Nice; we achieved it at Laeken. The Convention has produced this text. Are you in favour of returning to an open and democratic method – the Convention method – or do you think we can resolve the matter by staying up for another night like tonight? I believe we have to be very clear in this approach, and it is also important, therefore, that the Irish Presidency takes up this baton.
I have been particularly struck by the fact that you have been especially critical of the current situation in the economic field and this is understandable. What you have said would justify reconsidering the issue of economic governance. You mentioned Gulliver and I am a great admirer of Jonathan Swift, but I do not believe this is the appropriate example. We are not like Gulliver, but like Italo Calvino’s
[The Cloven Viscount], we have one half, the European Central Bank, but we do not have a figure in charge of the economy. Are you prepared to propose an amendment to the Constitution and a reform of the Stability Pact aimed at giving us Europeans strength? I believe this is an important issue to which we have to respond.
I must also say to you, on behalf of my group
and of the European Parliament I believe
that we are prepared to continue working to achieve the Constitution. We have 95%. The important thing now is to complete a Magna Carta, which is absolutely essential for our future and also for enlargement."@en1
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"Visconte dimezzato"1
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