Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-27-Speech-3-064"
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"en.20041027.5.3-064"2
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".
Mr President, today this House on the river Rhine has grown in stature. Its will was tested, its will has prevailed. At no time did we ask for anything more than is our right. We asked for no prerogative that is not laid down in the law of Europe. We asked for our considered judgment to be treated with respect. At every stage, our willingness to stand by that judgment was doubted, mistrusted and tested. It was tested to the edge of political crisis until the price of exerting our will became so high that only the unwalked ground of political crisis stretched ahead of us, and none of us wanted to venture onto it.
We will work with you to surmount that impasse. Over the rich summit dinner on Friday, let there be food for thought.
Mr Barroso, on behalf of my Group, I commit the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe to working with you to see a Commission approved in November. I thank you for your candour and commitment. I repeat that this House has today grown in stature: our will was tested and our will has prevailed.
However, our will and our willingness to stand by our judgment prevailed. Nobody in this Chamber seeks confrontation for its own sake. We value the tension that exists between our institutions, because the ability to turn that tension to mutual benefit is the sign of our institutions' maturity.
Mr Barroso, you suggested yesterday that it was anti–European to vote against your Commission. I do not honestly think you believe that. You know that when pro–Europeans criticise your Commission, they are not doing the work of Euroscepticism, but the very opposite: today, Euroscepticism loses because the voice of democracy in Europe has risen by an octave and has made itself heard in every national capital and beyond.
You know that Liberals and Democrats in this House challenged you and your Commission, because we want it to be stronger than you were given the chance to build it – stronger so that the European Union is stronger.
Mr Barroso, I restate now that the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe supports you. We voted for you in the knowledge that your commitment to the European Union matches our own. I say again today what I said yesterday: if our House is weak, then so is yours, because if the governments of Europe do not respect us, they will not respect you or the independence of your College. Our strength is your strength.
You have a chance to rebuild a Commission that can win the support of this House. Work fast! You know the will of this Chamber. Through resignation, reshuffle or withdrawal, you can come back to us with a new Commission, confident that we hold you in high regard as a committed European and a President of the European Commission with a capacity for great work.
Yesterday I spoke of an elephant in this Chamber, and it is here again. Once again I call on the Council to reflect on the rights of this House and on the way in which it chooses to exercise them. Liberals and Democrats call on the Council to respect the prerogatives of this House and the independence of the Commission, which it is charged with approving. We call on you to reflect on your own responsibility for the impasse at which we found ourselves."@en1
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"(Loud applause from the centre and left)"1
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