Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-07-Speech-4-054-000"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2011-07-07"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Modification of the Act concerning the election of the Members of the European Parliament (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20110707.4.4-054-000"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2011-07-07-Speech-4-055-0002
lpv:speaker	lp:Ashley Fox2
lpv:spoken text	"Madam President, the central proposal of the Duff report is the creation of an extra 25 MEPs to be elected by the whole of Europe. I believe that creating a new constituency, covering the whole of the EU, is democratically flawed. I ask Mr Duff, to whom will these 25 new MEPs be accountable? Certainly not the people. These new MEPS will be accountable only to the European political party that placed them on the list. They will speak on the party’s behalf and answer only to the party hierarchy, not the people. Far from bringing Europe closer to its citizens, this proposal will further increase the divide between the ordinary citizen and the politics in Brussels and Strasbourg. An additional 25 MEPs, representing the whole of the EU, will also be expensive, both in money terms and in carbon dioxide consumed. At a time when the EU is seeking to reduce its carbon footprint, do we really need another 25 pan-European MEPs travelling across the whole of their new huge constituency? This proposal also places an extra burden on taxpayers. At a time of austerity, how do we justify spending millions more euros on extra politicians and their staff? Mr Duff also wants a new electoral authority to oversee the election of these new MEPs and an electoral roll for the whole of Europe. Have these proposals been costed? Of course they have not. Conduct of elections must remain under the control of nation states. The only beneficiaries of these proposals are the European political parties. Indeed, I would argue that Mr Duff wants to create these new MEPs and an election, simply to give them something to do. The Duff report is undemocratic and expensive. It erodes the sovereignty of the nation-states and my group will oppose it."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula (2009-09-16--2014-06-30)3 vice-chair; AFCO (2011-02-07--2012-01-18)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China (2009-09-16--2014-06-30)3 substitute; ECON (2009-07-21--2012-01-18)3 unknown; Conservative Party (2009-07-14--2014-06-30)3 member_of_the_bureau; PECH (2011-03-09--2014-06-30)3 substitute; IMCO (2009-09-15--2012-01-18)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"(The speaker agreed to take three blue-card questions under Rule 149(8) by Nicole Sinclaire, Olle Schmidt and Rainer Wieland)"1 "Ashley Fox,"1 "on behalf of the ECR Group."1
lpv:videoURI	<go to Events_and_structure europarl>2

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph