Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2017-05-15-Speech-1-043-000"
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"en.20170515.15.1-043-000"2
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"Mr President, this report identifies eye-watering levels of fraudulent activity costing the Member States of the European Union EUR 637 million in 2015. When you add irregularities that are not fraudulent, the total amount of money involved goes to over EUR 3 billion. That, of course, is just the known fraud and irregularities because as the rapporteur correctly points out, by definition, there must be more that is not detected. And that is also before even asking the fundamental question as to whether taxpayers got value for money from the cash that was spent.
But this report in a lot of ways beautifully illustrates the European project as a whole, because whenever you have more Europe in one area it will result in problems implementing across 28 countries and the European Union will inevitably have to propose more harmonisation as the answer. For example, you get proposed responses like a European public prosecutor’s office, because the system will fail to function without it, and responses include imposing rules across all 28 Member States.
This is the very essence of the acquis communautaire. Once power moves from a nation state to the European Union in one area, it inexorably follows that powers must continue to flow in that same direction. That is how the European Union is set up. Really, there can only be two honest positions here. Either you support a European super state, with all that entails, and the loss of sovereignty and identity that comes with it. That view is logically internally consistent, and however much I disagree with it, I respect those who honestly hold that view. The other position is to recognise that the alternative is to leave the European Union and to get off the train before it reaches destination super state. That is what we in the United Kingdom are doing. But I just think if only the European Union had remained as a trading organisation rather than a political monolith, I am sure we would not be in this position today."@en1
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