Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-03-Speech-2-015-000"
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"en.20120703.4.2-015-000"2
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"Mr President, I want to do two things this morning.
First of all, I want to wish the Secretary-General of Parliament a very happy birthday. I am sure he is delighted to be having to spend his birthday listening to us drone on in this Chamber. Secondly, and much more importantly, I would like to thank the Danish Presidency, their officials and ministers and all those whom we have dealt with over the last six months.
Of course, Prime Minister, as a Socialist while I myself am a Conservative, I am sure there are many issues on which we would disagree. However, I would like to pay tribute to the typical Danish efficiency and practicality which has been sorely needed in the EU over the last six months. In particular, your Presidency should be congratulated for burying the financial transaction tax as an EU-wide initiative. It would have damaged many of the EU’s financial centres, and many ordinary savers and investors as well.
Your administration should also be thanked for refusing to reopen negotiations on the Pregnant Workers Directive, which would have raised costs for businesses, reduced women’s choice and made it harder for many young women to find jobs. You should also be congratulated as a member of the EU net contributors club for pushing for budget restraint within the EU as well.
In fact, when I look at many of the policy areas, it seems there are many lessons that you could teach the wider Socialist family about the responsibilities of power should you ever choose to come back to this Parliament.
Regarding the row over the Schengen evaluation mechanism, I have to say you have my sympathy on this. After all, the decision to change the legal base was made unanimously by the Council – a Council which, as Mr Daul and others often remind us, is made up predominantly of leaders of the EPP. I think it is very unfair that the messenger should be shot over this incident.
That aside, I think the Danish Presidency’s overall relationship with Parliament has been extremely good and I would like to thank in particular your Europe Minister sitting behind you, Mr Wammen, for all the work that he has done. He sat there tirelessly day after day in this Chamber, having to listen to a lot of brickbats and criticisms. I think he has done it extremely well, extremely courteously, and I am sure he has a great future ahead in your government.
Prime Minister, overall, your Presidency has been a good honest broker between the institutions and we come away with a positive assessment of Denmark’s time at the helm."@en1
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