Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-23-Speech-2-052"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20071023.7.2-052"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, President-in-Office, Commission President, ladies and gentlemen, the German Presidency has succeeded in drawing up a mandate and the Portuguese Presidency in achieving acceptance of it and implementing it. For this you have my thanks.
Because of the discussions of recent days about a number of minor matters it has been forgotten that this Treaty is a breakthrough in democracy and the capacity to act, because the European Parliament now has 95% of legislation in a codecision procedure, because the distinction between compulsory and non-compulsory expenditure has been removed and full rights are available in the budget sector and in the agricultural sector, the European Parliament has something to say on third country treaties and on ratifications, the European Parliament elects the Commission President and without the European Parliament, the Commission and the High Representatives do not take up office.
It is the case that democracy and the capacity to act have been created with the removal of the third pillar and that with the new decision-making methods in the Council for the expansion of codecision, the capacity to act has been improved.
Codecision and qualified majority decision-making are now the rule in legal terms. This is a reversal of matters, which is of great significance. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and legal personality are there and furthermore the United Kingdom’s red lines have been preserved in their entirety because in these areas there are opt-outs in legal and internal policy.
We still have to clarify certain matters: the issues associated with Article 24. We must fight to ensure that the transition from one Treaty to the next is not misused by the Council with regard to the allocation of posts, such as those of the High Representatives, for instance. We are merely able to state that there are 751 Members of the European Parliament and I see no post where there is a difference in voting rights within this text.
Furthermore, I must state that we really do have to ensure now that this text is implemented, that we translate the Constitution into reality in the way we understand this Treaty. Mr President, allow me to make one comment. In 1994 I was appointed for the first time on behalf of this House – for which I should like say thank you – to the Westendorp Group. This was my fourth intergovernmental conference. When we started, we had nothing to say as Parliament. I should like at this point to thank Mrs Guigou, Mr Tsatsos, Mr Hänsch and Mr Méndez De Vigo, as well as my two fellow Members from the Intergovernmental Conference, for their great cooperation over these last 13 years."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples