Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-20-Speech-2-477"
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"en.20040420.20.2-477"2
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"My dear Mrs Boogerd-Quaak, the good thing about democracy is that people can hold completely different ideas on the same subject. Indeed, I am deeply disappointed and saddened by this report, in both its technical and its political aspects.
From a legal and technical point of view, it is almost an abuse of parliamentary procedure: it mentions facts and people often out of context, without any evidence to support the serious allegations it makes; it uses third parties as reliable sources of information without having gone through the proper procedure for assigning the task, according to the Rules of Procedure; it makes critical assessments of countries that have yet to become active members of our institution without any supporting evidence; it does not take adequate account of the assessments made by the competent committees asked to give an opinion; it violates a basic criterion of our legal activity – subsidiarity – particularly regarding legislation; it even censures national parliaments; and I could go on down a long list. It is such a poorly made report that the President of Parliament himself, Pat Cox, in reply to a letter by Mr Podestà, says that, even though they are admissible, certain parts of the text need changing so as to comply fully with parliamentary practice and our Rules of Procedure.
In its political aspects, unfortunately, all this is overshadowed by the thirst for a political smear campaign. For me, an MEP who loves politics and believes it to be an irreplaceable tool for building a better society, that is truly the worst part of it. Reports like this and the use of the institutions as an election tool strike at the heart of our institution.
This institution has a dignity of its own and a credibility built up over years of hard work, years of adopting consistent and serious positions. Becoming a theatre of national quarrels for electoral purposes deals a mortal blow to the future of this institution and undermines its foundations and its credibility in the eyes of Europe’s citizens."@en1
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