Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-19-Speech-2-295"
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"en.20070619.42.2-295"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, representatives of the Member States and officials of the Commission, we are in agreement with the general thrust of the Cornillet report, which is characterised by common sense, goodwill and noble intentions, although most of these, I fear, are pious hopes.
Let us nevertheless emphasise one point, namely the excessively sharp contrast between the importance and even the
being attached today to the question of our relations with the countries of Africa and the indifference shown by the European oligarchies, particularly in this Parliament, towards the countries of the South.
Yes, dear colleagues, we are sinning by indifference. There is no comparison between the significance, which is sometimes minimal, of the matters that take up nine tenths and more of our debates and votes and the seriousness of the growing imbalance between the continents of Europe and Africa. I say ‘Africa’, by the way, because I do not believe there is a need to spread the ACP effort too thinly; the brunt of it should be devoted to the original focal point of the Lomé Conventions, which was and must remain sub-Saharan Africa.
The issue is undoubtedly too authentically political, too crudely political, to be dealt with by supranational institutions, which are, by nature, too weak to deal with anything but technical matters. Accordingly, it is perfectly normal for us to turn to the Member States and to call, as the Cornillet report does exceedingly well, for greater involvement of the national parliaments, for by seeking to address the major problems on a European scale we would end up not dealing with them at all and at the same time releasing the Member States from their obligations.
Yes, Mr Cornillet, the solution, here as elsewhere, is to trust the Member States and the truly democratic institutions, namely the national parliaments."@en1
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