Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-08-Speech-3-018"
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"en.20050608.3.3-018"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Schmit, Mr Barroso, should we continue, suspend or stop the process of ratifying the Constitutional Treaty?
Should we suspend it and wait for better days? Bravo for political courage, democratic rigour and confidence in the Constitution. In my view, nobody can refuse to give a population that wishes to express its opinion on the text the right to do so. At the same time, we owe it to every citizen to tell them the truth: from now on, it will be a process of consultation, not of ratification, because the draft Constitution is irrevocably null and void. It is void in legal terms, as it must receive unanimous approval in order to enter into force, and it is void politically given the power of the two ‘no’ votes and their impact in many other countries of the EU.
So, what do we do? What has just happened is not a French or Dutch thunderclap in a clear European sky. Yes, Mr Schulz, the crisis of confidence between the citizens and the European institutions has been continuing to widen and deepen since the great liberal watershed of the single market and of the Maastricht Treaty.
As the years go by, it is no longer just the working classes, but the middle classes themselves who view this watershed as a swing towards a model of society that they do not accept. Competition at any price, runaway loss of security, cynical and relentless power struggles, consensuses reached at summits, behind closed doors: it is no longer acceptable! There is a burst of dignity in this huge ‘no’. Many of these people still have dreams of Europe, but they are not dreaming about the Stability Pact or the Bolkestein directive.
The crisis in Europe today truly is an existential crisis. We have already experienced other difficulties, Mr Barroso has just reassured us. No, this time it is a different matter. Until now, the political storms triggered by the infamous reforms so dear to the liberals in the Council and the Commission stopped at the borders of the Member States. What a massacre there has been on the left since the time, not so long ago, when it controlled more that two-thirds of the governments of the EU. Where the right held the reins until only recently, the approval was just as deafening, is that not true, Mr Barroso?
What did the European leaders, including the Council and the Commission, do after each of these popular ‘no’ votes? They congratulated the winners and carried on with the same policy: business as usual! This time – and this is the major difference in the situation – it is the very heart of the system that the citizens now have in their sights. Now, sooner or later, we will have to give explanations and accept real changes.
So, how can we get out of this impasse? First of all, by showing that we have understood the extent of European unease by clearly declaring the Constitutional Treaty to be dead. Next, by announcing, in the same spirit, the withdrawal of the most controversial texts, the most symbolic being of a tendency that should be stopped: the Bolkestein Directive, the Working Time Directive, and also the series of directives currently under discussion liberalising all over the place, without the slightest assessment of the effects of previous measures of a similar nature. Finally, by opening a huge free citizens’ debate, not a convention but a citizens’ debate free from any pressure at EU level in order to assess the state of affairs in Europe today and determine what we need to change in order to produce a Europe in which the majority of Europeans can once again recognise themselves and get involved.
I will conclude, Mr President, by addressing the benches on the left, who, whatever their position on the Constitution, share the conviction that we must now go down this route in order to relaunch Europe. Let us meet and do what we have to do so that confidence returns and hope is reborn."@en1
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