Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-26-Speech-1-029"
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"en.20050926.11.1-029"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister Prescott and Commissioner Wallström for their presence here today. I would also like to thank Mr Cohn-Bendit for devoting so much attention to me, as always.
What we have seen here today is the ability of an institution such as ours to raise our voices in grave concern and yet come up with no solution. Because, ultimately, if we really want to respond to what is occurring in the European Union of today, we must first recognise that, whatever crisis we may perceive, the people out there do not see it as a crisis. For 90% of the people, the European Union does not represent a positive image of relevance to them. It is seen as being interfering, over-burdensome, over-arching and, indeed, uncaring when it comes people's everyday concerns.
It is important to be realistic when we consider the number of issues that our organisation can address within its rules. I heard talk here today of how wrong it was of President Barroso to mention that the Commission was going to drop 'x' number of directives, or that it was going to reduce the number of directives in force. The President of our own Parliament said here today that there are 56 different directives dealing with the sale and production of goods for supply and for services. There are 16 individual directives dealing with the purchase, marketing and presentation of fertiliser for sale. Surely, they can all be brought into a single directive. Maybe there is a difference in language and interpretation and that what the President of the Commission meant to say was consolidation, or codification, which happens in every single government.
There is no reason why every single institution should not take a hard look at itself to determine what the most important issues to be tackled are and how legislation can be improved and made more relevant to the people.
The challenges facing us today are not about the distant future, or even the failed ideologies of the past. The challenges for us today are to ensure that we can create a proper structure for Europe in the 21st century. Funding is a core issue and there must be agreement on the financial perspective. Member States must make a payment towards the central budget to ensure that we can assist those countries most in need, and to ensure that we can continue to drive forward Europe as a dynamic, innovative and creative centre.
We must also try to ensure that, in so doing, we do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. There have been those who in the recent past have sought to link the common agricultural policy to the financial perspective. That was a mistake and it is to be hoped that there will now be a retreat from that position. Likewise it is important that we in this Parliament view our role responsibly and that, when we do not like or agree with legislation, we do not flunk the decision – as we did with the computer-implemented inventions directive, as we are trying to do with the services directive, and as we have done with many other proposed directives in the past. Our role as legislators is to legislate. That requires tough decisions. That means that there will be differences between us in this House. Those differences are not of a personal nature, but in what we see as the best vision for the future.
Finally, when we speak about an area of freedom, security and justice, it is justice which must be first and foremost among those aims and ideals, because, unless we can guarantee people that their individual rights and freedoms are protected, then we will have failed in our first duty as legislators, namely, to ensure that the laws that we pass not only protect the common good, but do not adversely affect the minority."@en1
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