Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-11-Speech-2-111"
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"en.20050111.10.2-111"2
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"Mr President, the Dutch delegation within the Socialist Group in the European Parliament believes that the debate is about the Constitution rather than about whether we are in favour of Europe or against it. We are in favour, with reservations, because what matters to us are the benefits of the new Constitution compared to the Treaty of Nice. The Europe of Nice is undecided as to how significant it is. The new Treaty, however, guarantees the influence of regional, decentralised authorities, and designates the national parliament as a watchdog, so that Europe, rather than threatening to turn into a superstate, provides effective and cross-border cooperation in respect of crime and food safety.
In addition, in the new Constitution, more than 30 types of decisions have been replaced by a handful of terms readily recognisable by the public, including ‘law’ and ‘enabling legislation’. With this, the Constitution introduces more clarity about the type of Europe we would like and decision-making that we use to that end. The Constitution also brings us more effectiveness by extending the number of areas in which decisions are taken by qualified majority, thus ensuring that one country cannot put a spanner in the works. More democratic accountability is introduced by removal of much decision-making from the backrooms, and by making the Council’s decision-making meetings public.
Finally, the Constitution brings us more rights for the citizens: social dialogue, the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as the citizens’ initiative, of course. Anyone who fails to support this important step in the European integration process will become responsible for perpetuating the present Treaty of Nice, which is more bureaucratic, slower, and in many ways undemocratic.
Our ‘yes’ is one that is tinged with a critical observation, because Europe is still very much lacking one voice. Social Europe is still inadequately anchored; hence a critical ‘yes’. In short, the Dutch delegation within the PSE Group gives a critical ‘yes’ to the Constitution. Around the referendum in the spring, we will be enthusiastically advocating this position, supported by Johan Cruyff, Catalan Dutchman or Dutch Catalan in the Spanish campaign. In that way, we are hoping to gain support in the Netherlands for this new project, the new Constitution."@en1
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