Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-09-Speech-3-035-000"
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"en.20120509.16.3-035-000"2
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"Mr President, Schuman, Monnet and Spinelli all lived in a very different Europe to the one of today. In their Europe, the continent had been ravaged by two world wars. In their Europe, the household challenge was putting food on the table. The global challenge became symbolised by a wall across Berlin. Their solutions were ever-closer union, the European social model and the common agricultural policy. In their day, those policies helped to achieve some of their objectives. Enlargement to the east brought freedom to a people previously cloaked by an iron curtain.
But the world has moved on since the Schuman Declaration was made 62 years ago and sadly, in many areas, the EU has not. Many of those 20th century solutions have now become a part of the 21st century problem. The EU is not only becoming irrelevant in the world, but also in the minds of many of our own people. I have one simple explanation for that. The people do not trust the EU because the EU does not trust the people.
Democracy, the rule of the people, is the greatest Greek export in history and it is under threat. The euro, the Fiscal Compact, the impositions of the troika and endless EU legislation have stopped our electors from having the power to determine their own destinies. We cannot go on taking the people for granted. If we do, they will turn to ugly alternatives. Sadly, communists and neo-Nazis who want to place landmines on the Greek border are now a major part of the Greek Parliament. Ms Le Pen received a fifth of the vote in France. And yet what was the Commission’s response to the first-round upset in France? More Europe is needed, we were told by a spokesman. To me, nothing better sums up everything that is wrong with the EU than that reaction.
We feel that we have all of the answers and the Commission’s Schuman Day statement just backs up that assumption. But often our well-intentioned actions become part of the problem and lead to less personal or economic freedom for individuals. To paraphrase a famous quote of President Reagan, the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I am from the EU and I am here to help’. I am a firm believer that small government works. When national governments have rolled back the frontiers of the state, they have found that their people and their economies thrive. The EU has become a big government. It is time to roll back its frontiers.
Many people have suggested that Sunday’s election was a victory for pro-growth politicians replacing pro-austerity politicians. That is, of course, nonsense. Everybody that I know – maybe apart from a few of the Greens – actually wants growth. The battle is over means and not ends. Sustainable growth requires profitably producing and selling more goods and services. Getting the EU to borrow and spend even more money to create fake demand at a time when national debts are already spiralling out of control is not pro-growth. It is stupid, it is unsustainable and it will bring national bankruptcy a step closer for many states.
My group is happy to offer an alternative vision for the future of the EU based on liberty, national democracy and proper entrepreneur-led growth. We believe that free trade is the best way to promote our products and our values across the globe. We believe that the EU budget should be better focused, smaller and reprioritised to 21st century challenges such as research. We believe that the single market should be the jewel in the crown of the EU, promoting deregulation and competition rather than red tape and harmonisation.
Seven years ago in this Chamber, following the French and Dutch rejections of the European constitution, one of the north-east constituents of Stephen Hughes and myself, Prime Minister Tony Blair, told this Chamber that people are blowing the trumpets around the city walls. Are we listening? I think we know the answer to the question that he posed, but the trumpets are sounding even louder now today than they were in 2005.
We have to ask ourselves whether we are, in fact, listening to what the people have to say today, because the EU faces clear choices. We can continue to pass more legislation, we can have ten-year economic plans, or we can cut red tape and lift the burden on businesses. We can continue to believe that we know best or we can trust the people to know what is right. We can continue with the mantra of an ever-closer union or we can build an effective union that does less, but does it better. It is not too late to face reality, to trust the people and to embrace small government in Brussels, but time is rapidly running out. Unless we change course, the world will keep turning and Europe will fall further and further behind in the international competitive league table – and we will only have ourselves to blame."@en1
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