Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-01-20-Speech-3-030-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20160120.3.3-030-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, the Dutch Prime Minister and I were both born in the same year, in the same month, in fact within a day of each other. We have seen the EU change much in our lifetime, and in your speech, Prime Minster, you laid out the road along which the EU has travelled over time. But now we are at a fork in that road, and by the end of your Presidency we will determine which fork to take. Will we take the road that sees our migration crisis continue, fudges decisions over the eurozone and sees a country, my country, possibly vote to leave? Or will we take the EU along the road to recovery, to a reformed EU that allows our citizens to harness the spirit of enterprise, to create jobs and growth? And at that fork in the road stands a traffic cop for the next six months, and that will be you, Prime Minister.
And it is great to see that there are still some real market liberals left in the ALDE group rather than the pseudo-socialists that we see lined up in this Parliament. But your Dutch Presidency is right to focus on the key to recovery, the economy. Because if the European Union does not have innovative and growing economies, we cannot offer opportunities to young people who want a job, we cannot provide the resources needed to tackle the situation in Syria and the refugee crisis, we cannot tackle any of the other challenges we face. So your priority of cutting red tape that ties down businesses is one that the European Conservatives and Reformists Group welcomes.
But we have seen all too often how presidencies become so desperate to get legislative agreements on their report card that they agree to any old rubbish. So my group will judge your Presidency not on the quantity but the quality of legislation that we see passed in the next six months. We will look to you to remove obstacles to trading across the single market, especially the digital single market. We will look to you to advocate enforcement of existing rules such as the EU Stability and Growth Pact. And, as well as a digital single market, we will look to you to quickly move on proposals on capital markets and energy proposals.
We hope that the Dutch reputation for pragmatism will ensure that these proposals will not simply create more bureaucratic regulatory unions. In capital markets we do not necessarily need another union but transparent, efficient capital markets that allow entrepreneurs to access alternative sources of finance and not rely on banks alone.
For energy, rather than focus on a bureaucratic union, we should be looking to interconnect energy grids, diversify supply and improve energy efficiency and conservation.
But, as we look ahead today, your greatest challenge will be the refugee and migration crisis, and as you try to find solutions we hope you will rely less on imposed solutions and instead focus on cooperation and countries taking responsibility. Any leader that sends out an open invitation to all, regardless of whether they are genuinely fleeing persecution and war or seeking to queue-jump the legal migration channels, needs to take responsibility for the impact on their country and other countries. Those countries that are failing to protect the Schengen zone’s external borders need to live up to their responsibility. And all of us here and in the Commission should be helping countries to cooperate, to find solutions that are fair to Member States, to find solutions that are fair to their neighbours, and to find solutions fair to the people seeking asylum.
We will certainly see one referendum during your Presidency; we may see two. The outcome of both of these referendums may depend on whether we can show the people that we are listening to them and that we can offer them solutions and not more problems. It is a heavy burden on your shoulders, and we in the European Conservatives and Reformists look forward to working with you to tackle the crisis with better solutions, to allow countries to cooperate better, and to steer the EU in a better direction."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples