Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-041"
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"en.20040331.1.3-041"2
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"Mr President, it is clear that the conclusions of the Spring Summit have been affected by the terrorist attack in Madrid, which has not just had political consequences, but also obvious economic consequences in view of the uncertainty, instability and insecurity that all terrorism brings, as the citizens of Madrid are well aware, having suffered this terrible attack, and as the Spanish citizens of the Basque country are also aware, since for more than 20 years there has been a nationalist government which throughout this whole period has not been able to guarantee either the security or the most fundamental rights of the citizens and whose President, incidentally, was the first political leader in Spain to blame the attack on the terrorist group ETA.
I would like to say, Mr President, with regard to the constitutional issue, that I do not agree with the opinion expressed this morning in the House that the change of government in Spain has led to the new climate created. This new climate has actually been created as a result of the attitude of the Member States – including the most reluctant – in view of the new circumstances and I would like to stress that Spain has always been prepared to negotiate to make its conditions more flexible. Europe wants and needs a constitution, but it must be a constitution in which all European citizens are recognised.
It is important to point out, Mr President, that, not only in view of the phenomenon of terrorism, but also of the crisis with the Stability Pact, the appreciation of the Euro and the challenges and opportunities raised by enlargement, the climate in the European Union at the moment is not at its most optimistic.
The media has stressed that Europe has lost one point in competitiveness over the last ten years in comparison with the United States and that today the prosperity of the average European Union citizen is 30% lower than the prosperity of the average United States citizen. What elements do we need in order to recover the path of sustained growth and increased employment?
Mr President, apart from the structural reforms required by the Lisbon strategy, the most important thing, the qualitative leap which Europe must make, is to relaunch the European project, not as a mere monetary union, not as a mere single market, but the real political project, and, to this end, we are counting on the Presidency of the Council and, in particular, the Presidency of the European Commission."@en1
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