Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-11-24-Speech-1-050-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20141124.15.1-050-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I would like to make the following remarks to Mr Juncker. This is an ugly tax scandal that will not go away. The stain of deceit has seeped into you and, the longer you stay in that seat, the further the stain will seep up the chain behind you throughout the Commission.
The stain is deep, because here in this Chamber today you have said that you are not a friend of big business; yet, whilst you were the leader of Luxembourg, you permitted 240 multinationals and corporations to enter into aggressive corporate tax avoidance. If that is what not being a friend is, I would love to see what being an enemy is. Some of these companies paid as little as one per cent, and yet you stood through the elections and said you wanted to stand in solidarity with the people of Europe. Yes, the people of Europe are in austerity, they have high rates of unemployment and there is poverty sweeping across Europe like a plague. Yet you ensured that the people of Luxembourg benefited from your largesse. You said that these were extreme circumstances, not just for your country; yet I do not see Germany or Britain or France or Italy having 240 companies with corporations earning one per cent.
You talked of changes of behaviour, but the only behaviour that needs to change is yours. You ask others in this Chamber to attack us, simply because we are asking where the solidarity was when you put Greece through the troika, knowing millions of euros from dodgy tax deals with multinationals were flowing through Luxembourg’s coffers. Where is the solidarity when Italy has 55% unemployment and Luxembourg does not? Where is solidarity when you stood in this Chamber and said that these deals were done in the name of Europe?
When I look at the people in this Chamber, you have to ask yourselves whether you are the moral guardians of the people who voted for you. Are you going to be seen as the Members who vote for your own and keep your own in place, or are you actually going to listen to the people and say that from time to time we must get rid of those who do not have the European ideal that you say that you believe in?"@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples