Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-064"
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"en.20070711.5.3-064"2
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".
Mr President, since the European Council in Brussels, there seems to be a sense of melancholic satisfaction. Perhaps it is just because the holidays are nearly here. In fact, when one looks at the mandate for this Intergovernmental Conference, it is tempting to say that Europe has got off lightly, but I fear that it is not that simple. It is not the Member States who have been hit. Everyone is eyeballing everyone else, people are looking jealously to their sovereignty. The question is whether Europe has just had its eye blacked, or whether it is blind in one eye, because the citizens can not longer see the real nature of this Union.
Of course, the mandate safeguards the Constitution's central achievements, but the mandate also clouds Europe's true nature, it hides Europe, and obscures the idea of European integration. Mr Barón Crespo, I do not think that we are dealing with an exercise in political realism. What we have here is open and intense nationalism, with parochial governments going their own sweet way.
Is it really just a cosmetic change when there is no longer any reference to the Union of the citizens, and we go back to a Union of states? Was that what people wanted when they voted 'no' in France and the Netherlands? What happened to their demands for a social Europe and greater democracy? Is that unrealistic? Is it not necessary? Surely this is Europe's role? Where have we sought to use clear language that is easy to understand in this Constitution, to produce an intelligible document? The governments have had just one aim over the last few months: to produce an obscure, enigmatic, incomprehensible, unreadable Treaty that citizens are not supposed to read.
The opt-out for the Charter on Fundamental Rights is not just one in the eye for Europe – it is an assault on our self-image as a Community of values. It is unacceptable that the Union should describe itself as a Community of values whilst allowing some of the citizens to be excluded from those values!"@en1
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