Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-22-Speech-2-201"
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"en.20070522.23.2-201"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance would like to welcome you, Prime Minister Prodi, to this Chamber, partly because, recently, there have unfortunately not been so many speeches of resolute commitment to a top-level solution to the constitutional crisis. We fear, for example, that tomorrow the Dutch Prime Minister will be here singing from a completely different song-book.
Understanding the arguments of others is all well and good, but experience teaches us that it is nearly always the arguments of the opposition that win. We know that in the end even the most pro-European governments such as yours gradually yield to the arguments of those who see the true shape of a European Government in the intergovernmental aspect and in the power relations between states. This is what happened in Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice. You said that your government would not accept lowest common denominator compromises, and we hope this is true, because very often past examples have not been very edifying.
The Greens do not like blackmail, conflict or splits. We would be delighted with a harmonious, innovative and truly sustainable and united Europe, and the 27-member Europe is a major achievement. Let us be clear, however: the blackmail so far has come solely from those wishing to stand in the way of a solution to the constitutional crisis, and this is a fact that we cannot let pass unremarked. Even the majority within this Parliament has in recent months and years refrained from making any proposals of a slightly daring nature, preferring to wait for an initiative from the governments.
We believe that there are two or three conditions that could permit us, Mr Prodi, to escape from this stalemate and we truly hope that the Italian Government will resolutely agree with us on this issue. There needs to be a strong alliance among the 18 countries that have ratified the Constitution, as well as this Parliament, the Commission and some national parliaments, to resist the trend to dismantle the Constitutional Treaty.
You made a list of some issues and I would like to add at least two more: firstly, the issue of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and secondly, the issue of recasting the revision clause. We can no longer go forward like this, with a treaty that has been adopted unanimously and leaving the European Parliament out.
The second condition is that you governments must have the courage to speak to the general public about the choices that must be made and the divisions that exist among you on the future of Europe, and to seek their support. Do not hide yourselves in mysterious secret negotiations. Do not exclude this Parliament from the reform of the European Constitution during the intergovernmental conference that is currently being prepared, not least because experience shows that the winners in secret intergovernmental negotiations are the others.
We, and I am finishing now, Mr President, are not afraid of debate on the central issue, even if we do not like it. Indeed, we think that it is only if we face certain governments and certain peoples with a choice of staying in or leaving that they will in the end decide to stand with us."@en1
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