Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-018"
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"en.20070314.3.3-018"2
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".
Mr President, Madam Vice-President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, I do not know the basis for your confidence, Mr President-in-Office, but I do know that it is possible to talk of confidence without having any. We are discussing Europe’s successes, yes, but, if we talk about wealth and stability, we must also talk about poverty – which does exist in Europe. I have heard nothing about that so far today.
Also, when we talk about the rule of law, we must also talk about those citizens who have no rights in Europe. This is often forgotten, and I shall come back to it. On the subject of confidence in the procedure, well, I belong to the political group of those who have no confidence in the procedure. Secretiveness does not square with dialogue and democratic openness – it is impossible. I tell you: I do not believe in these sherpas, or in confessionals, or in all these antics, as it must ultimately be revealed to the public where the contradictions between individuals in Europe lie.
We have seen it with the French referendum; we have seen it in the Netherlands. If we do not carry the European people with us – that is, hold public discussions about problem areas – they will not come on board. I tell you: the text should be short and simple, but without being banal. That is the danger of your strategy: the banality that will result from it. This is my advice. You have talked about the climate, so be bold about it. Formulate the objectives quite clearly so we can understand them. The objectives are as follows. A climate target of no more than two degrees of warming must be included for the next 50 years, as must a more efficient use of resources – not just energy but also water, paper, copper and aluminium – and, in 50 years’ time, the EU should be generating 100% of its energy from renewable sources. These are objectives that would make people say: Aha! You really have plans. I am eager to see what is in your text.
Furthermore, when you talk about the climate, you must say that we need a stability pact. We must enable the Commission to intervene when countries fail to abide by the rules – as with the Stability and Growth Pact for the single currency. Binding targets without sanctions do not exist even in my educational theory – and that is really liberal. These are the only way of ensuring compliance.
There was one thing that made me wince, Mr President-in-Office. You said that one of the points was the fight against illegal immigration. Before saying a word about the 50 million legal immigrants living in Europe, who need the same rights as all Europeans, you went straight to the illegal immigrants. That is Europe’s problem – we do not recognise these people, we always subsume them under the heading ‘illegal’. Do not think that this is a minor problem. There is a small European country that is so proud of the French Revolution, yet one of the leading presidential candidates has just proposed the creation of a ministry for immigration and national identity. That is the danger threatening Europe, namely our viewing immigrants as a threat to our European identity. You are shaking your head – but rather than just travelling to ministries, you should listen to the discussions on this subject in Europe’s cafés and bars for once. That is where the people of Europe are to be found. We are wrong if we only ever speak about illegal immigration rather than about the people who can be integrated into European life. I winced at this, as I thought, ‘
what is he going to say now?’
I should like to conclude by making one thing quite clear. Let us take pride in the fundamental values we have set down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This includes taking pride in those values: freedom of sexual orientation, freedom for minorities, freedom for human beings. These are the things I want to see in the Berlin Declaration, rather than some reference to God or anyone else who does not concern us here."@en1
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