Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-10-Speech-3-081"

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"en.20071010.17.3-081"2
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"Madam President, by supporting Mr Lamassoure’s report the European Union can take a historic step. With this report we can leave behind a time when the number of seats in the European Parliament was distributed on the basis of a system where different countries were categorised in different groups, on the basis of the negotiating skills of different heads of government, and where it is assumed that the EU’s Member States have conflicting interests. If Parliament chooses to support Mr Lamassoure’s report, we will leave behind this system and move to one based on the proportionality principle, where a country’s size affects its representation in Parliament. The system that we have had up to now has been very difficult to explain, but the system that we can get with the Lamassoure report is possible to explain. It is based on a maximum and a minimum level and on account being taken of the number of people in the different countries. This principle is also tenable looking to the future. It means that the interests of one country or another are not furthered, but the number of citizens is taken into account. This is a step forward in the democratic process in the European Union. I want it to be quite clear what alternative we are facing. We either support the proposals set out in the Lamassoure report or we go back to the Nice agreement with its arbitrariness and negotiations marked by conflicting national interests. When I hear the latest speakers from the benches up here and their agitation, I can also hear the national interests in relation to conflicts. The Lamassoure report should be supported because it is based on a principle."@en1

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