Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2017-02-13-Speech-1-098-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20170213.13.1-098-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, let me begin by thanking each of my shadows who have brought us to this particular point, to Mr Belet, to Ms Guteland, Mr Gerbrandy, Mr Eickhout, Ms Konečná and Ms Evi. I did not believe we would get here if I am being very frank. Just before Christmas, when we were contemplating this being a committee vote, I really did not think we had the vote at all. And yet, lo and behold, here we are. And coincidentally, it is my birthday. It is not for me to suggest that passing this would be a perfect birthday present. But I might just hint that that would be a useful thing for us to be doing tonight.
It is important to stress again that is 197 days since I was given this particular dossier to move forward. Many of you here will remember I resigned as well during that process but you did not accept my resignation. So here I stand and again I am very appreciative of all who helped that be achieved. I should also again give thanks to the former chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Mr La Via, whose wise counsel at various points stopped me going slightly off the rails, which was very helpful. I should also of course, as I look toward the front of the room and I see in the form of Mr Cañete, a gentleman I once described as the Father Christmas of the College of Commissioners because again he brought back from Paris quite an extraordinary agreement. And let us keep to the fore of our minds during both this debate and the vote that follows that we have indeed got to stick with Paris. How do we ensure that we can stop the rise in the temperature of the globe? It is a simple as that. We often lose sight of it, and I have more than once lost sight of it, in various amendments, in various elements of this particular package. But what we are really focused upon, and I believe we must be focused upon, is making Paris a reality.
I know that the Council conclusions are not there yet. I know the Council is not yet ready to embrace this; but they will because they have to. And I hope that the agreement that we secure by passing this report will help move it in that direction, will help remind those Member States they have a commitment which they have signed up to, that we must deliver against the Paris ambitions.
It is also important for me to stress each of the elements of the package. I have been describing it to others a bit like a Jenga tower. I am not sure if Jenga exists in all the Member States of the EU but broadly, it is a tower of various blocks, and again the game is for you to pull out different blocks, hoping that the whole thing does not topple over. Well here we are folks. The question is which blocks are you going to try and pull out of the agreement right now and will the tower remain standing? I do not know the answer to that. That rests, I suspect, more in your hands than it does in mine. But what I do stress is as you pull out each block, just remember: if that tower topples, we have to rebuild it and we will rebuild it in a much less favourable climate, literally, and will also rebuild it in a much more challenging way. So please be under no illusion, when you are considering which amendments you wish to pull out or push in, that we need to deliver a package that works for everyone together. It is important, I suspect, for all of us here; each of us has particular constituencies and constituency issues, but nonetheless we must come together to deliver what is required for the climate and indeed for the European Union.
Let me also stress that we must make sure that the agreement is Brexit proof. But I will say no more about that but leave that for the negotiations themselves. This is bigger than Brexit, it is bigger that the EU. Let us get it right.
Final point again. I have been very blessed by an assistant system called Ross McKenzie, who helped me deliver this particular package. He is soon to be leaving my team, which I think is a bit of a shame. But nonetheless I am hoping through trilogue that we will continue to make progress.
So let me conclude by saying: this is the time to get it right. We have got to pass this and I hope with all your support we can do that very thing."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples