Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-22-Speech-2-216"
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"en.20070522.23.2-216"2
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"Mr President, Mr Prodi, you more than anyone are familiar with how the European institutions work. As a former President of the Commission, you are therefore well placed to fathom why the European citizens are increasingly turning their backs on present-day Europe. Bureaucracy, overregulation, no ounce of respect for the principle of subsidiarity, political correctness, no respect for Europe’s Christian heritage, and the obsessive desire to admit Islamic Turkey to the EU have meant that these days, most Europeans equate the European ideal of the founding fathers with an intrusive super state that no longer listens to what the people want.
In recent years, we have seen some striking examples of the deliberate deafness of official Europe. In France and the Netherlands, in democratic referendums, the people said ‘no’ to the European super state. Despite this, the German Presidency simply carries on down the path already chosen. For Angela Merkel, and I am afraid for you as a Member of the European Council, the will of the people does not count. All opinion polls show that whilst the Europeans want to be on friendly terms with the Turks, they do not want a non-European and Islamic country to join our Union. Again, the pre-determined path is simply followed.
Do not harbour any illusions, though. This refusal to listen to the needs and complaints of Europeans will backfire at the next opportunity, and official Europe should not come and complain to us if the citizens again vote ‘incorrectly’ at some stage in the future.
I should like to finish off by saying to Mr Prodi that the government of my country brought itself into disrepute last week by refusing, for commercial reasons, to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Belgium. Nobody wants to offend China. It is very unfortunate that the rule in these situations seems to be that of
. I therefore hope that, within the European Council, you will speak up to focus on the attitude of your government which, although it likes to wax lyrical about human rights, when the chips are down, lets its own economic interests prevail, and also to denounce Belgium in this matter. If Europe is serious about defending human rights, it should also have the courage to denounce the hypocrisy of some Member States."@en1
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"Erst das Fressen und dann die Moral"1
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