Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-11-Speech-2-131"
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"en.20050111.10.2-131"2
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by congratulating the rapporteurs on this report, which adds clarity and weight to the debate. I was one of the 200 parliamentarians who participated in the Convention and produced the Convention text, which the IGC subsequently took on board to a very large degree.
I doubt whether any Member State constitution has ever been prepared in such an open and democratic way. I doubt that there is a constitution in any of the Member States which achieved the kind of consensus that the Convention achieved. Of the 200 parliamentarians participating in that Convention, only eight signed an alternative text, basically arguing for the disintegration of Europe. We have heard that case being put here this morning, with Mr Allister of Northern Ireland arguing for a reversion to 19th century absolute sovereignty. If Sinn Féin had participated in the debate this morning they would – although they are the direct political opposites in Northern Ireland – have been making exactly the same case. Perhaps it is a kind of progress that they agree on 19th century absolute sovereignty, although it is unfortunate that they continue to fall out over the outcome of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690!
The fact is that this is a world in which the response to natural disasters and to man-made problems clearly requires transnational governance. Uniquely in the world, Europe is developing a democratic form of transnational governance. This Constitution will give us more democracy, more rights and more potential for a prosperous society in Europe, and indeed for solidarity with the rest of the world.
To conclude, those outcomes will not happen of their own accord. We have to work for them, using this Constitution as the basis for our work."@en1
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