Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-06-Speech-3-468"
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"en.20090506.41.3-468"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank the honourable Members for this interesting debate, which has been partly consensual on a number of issues, partly a repetition of well-known arguments for and against the Treaty, and partly a very interesting debate about what constitutes democracy. This is the first time I have heard about totalitarian systems that allow referendum after referendum in a number of Member States, and why some referenda results are forgotten or do not count – mainly those that have meant a ‘yes’.
It has also been a discussion about legitimacy. I still find it strange – and I have said this before – that a Parliament like this one should say that a decision by a national parliament is anti-democratic or does not count or is not legitimate. As for the Commission, it has always held the opinion that whatever system one chooses – a vote by referendum or through a national parliamentary decision – it is democratically legitimate. I do not see that any other position would be possible.
Any European citizen listening to this debate would wish us to go back to these reports, which actually reflect some serious concerns about the way we take decisions, about the rule book, about how to strengthen the democratic functioning of this European Union, and about how to use the budget in the right way in order to put resources to our political priorities. All these things are taken up by these important reports.
This is also about how to take decisions in an effective and hopefully more rapid way. I found Mr Lundgren’s intervention absolutely flabbergasting. Do we really think the whole idea is to make things slower, and to slow down decision-making when dealing with an economic crisis like the one we are seeing now? People expect us to take action to ensure jobs and growth, to deal with climate change and the energy crisis and to tackle the problems that come with immigration and security – all of those things. That is the basis, also, for these reports. That is why we are here and that is how we gain democratic legitimacy – if we show that we can act and that we can act swiftly. I do not think that any arrogant, snobbish intervention, giving us lessons about this or that, helps us either. It is really about tackling these problems, which today are not national. They are European and international, and we have to have a modern rule book.
We have to have a more democratic Union which allows citizens to take the initiative. We never hear anything about that from those that are against. We never hear them say anything about the democratic strength of what is in the Lisbon Treaty; that is clearly missing. These reports give us a good grounding and a good platform to reform the way we work. From the Commission’s side, we are of course willing to follow up and to work on all the details to ensure that we can implement this swiftly.
A last point on Ireland, is that after this ‘yes’ in the Czech Senate, all eyes will of course be on Ireland again, and on the possibility of ratification by the end of the year. The issue of the legal guarantees is of course essential here, and both content and timing is very important. We are confident from the Commission side that the EU Council will be able to settle this issue, and I know also that careful preparations are taking place at the moment and we will, if given the possibility, also contribute from the Commission side.
Thank you very much and thank you also for this being partly a social event, where people are thanking each other for the good cooperation and wishing all those who are leaving good luck. I guess we will all meet in the election campaign in one way or the other."@en1
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