Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-193"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2004-03-31"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Fundamental rights in the European Union (2003)2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20040331.6.3-193"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2004-03-31-Speech-3-1942
lpv:speaker	lp:The Earl Of Stockton2
lpv:spoken text	". Mr President, I would also like to congratulate Mrs Boumediene-Thiery on her far-reaching report. I should record that in many ways my party is not altogether happy with the Charter of Fundamental Rights as it came in and, especially in view of what we have heard from both the President-in-Office and the Commissioner, we have concerns that it could become yet another framework for regulation and bureaucracy, when common sense and good manners should be allowed to have their individual way. With the imminence of our elections, we are all aware that the largest party in Europe is now the apathy party. We are very conscious that the forecasts for turnout in June are going to be even lower than in the past. A major task facing the next Parliament will be to bring the citizens of the new Europe to a greater understanding of, and involvement with, the institutions. And they are institutions, not institutions. There are a number of methods by which citizens can make their voices heard. They can apply directly to their elected national governments, which make up the Council; to their Commissioner nominated by their elected government; to us, as elected representatives; to the European Ombudsman; and also to the Committee on Petitions of this Parliament. It is on behalf of that committee that I have submitted an opinion on this report. We in the Committee on Petitions have noticed how often we are able to sort out things which should have been sorted out at a national, or even sometimes a regional, level. However, the continuing existence of the Committee on Petitions provides a very useful safety valve and stopgap, and, uniquely among Parliament's committees, its work will continue over the interregnum into the new Parliament. Some of you may have noticed that there is a work of art – I assume it is a work of art – in the centre of the tower building courtyard: a glass globe, approximately two metres in diameter. From a distance it seems simple and transparent, but the closer you get to it, the more complicated the construction appears and the more opaque the surface. This is a superb, but ironic, symbol of both this Parliament and the European Union. I therefore suggest that it is the job of the new House and the new Commission to make the present institutions work and to simplify their relationships with citizens. This would do much to meet the objectives laid out by the President-in-Office and to ensure that we, when we are re-elected, have the support of our citizens."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs (2002-01-30--2004-07-19)3 member; PETI (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Conservative and Unionist Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Stockton (PPE-DE ),"1 "draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Petitions"1 "our"1 "their"1

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