Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-11-22-Speech-4-012-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20121122.6.4-012-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the motion for a resolution that we will vote on contains three points, as the Commissioner has underlined. The first deals with bringing forward the date of the elections: the proposal is aimed at ensuring that the Commission will be in a position to start work at the end of the summer. We must verify whether this is feasible – as the Commissioner has pointed out – to ensure that the date chosen will affect turnout positively rather than negatively.
I believe that the most important proposal, however, is for nominations by the political parties of candidates for the Commission Presidency, and I prefer to speak of ‘political parties’ here rather than ‘political families’, precisely in order to underline the need for the creation of genuine European political parties. This is very important if Europe is to capture the imagination of the European electorate. The declining turnout is due also to the fact that during the European elections various national rather than European matters are discussed. The European elections are seen as nothing more than a test of the domestic political situation.
During the election campaign we must talk about Europe, and the citizens must be firmly convinced that their votes count for something in terms of European policies. I think that nominating candidates for the Commission Presidency would help to convince the citizens of this. Europe will certainly be discussed more than in the past in these upcoming elections, because the economic crisis has focused attention on the basic debate of whether there should be more Europe, less Europe or even an end to Europe. It is absolutely essential to give citizens the opportunity to choose the government of Europe and the President of the Commission.
The third question has to do with the make-up of the Commission, apart from the question of gender balance: we are debating whether it might not be better for a quota of future Commissioners, established in numerical terms or in some less determined manner, to be drawn from among MEPs. This would also give the electorate the feeling that their vote makes a difference. For these reasons, I think that we should support the resolution."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples