Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-16-Speech-5-075"
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"en.20000616.5.5-075"2
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"Mr President, I want to thank Mrs Grossetête for her report. I agree with her: there is nothing more important that we could devote time to discussing in this Parliament. Preceding the downfall of the Roman Empire it was customary to take out the imperial decree, unroll the great scroll of purple and gold, read it, have it copied and distribute it – and nobody took the slightest notice of it. There is no surer way to bring about the downfall and disintegration of this Union than to make laws that Member States do not ensure are then observed.
One thing that did not come up in the discussion was the greater use that could be made of the proceedings in this House, particularly Question Time, to bring to the attention of the Commission and exchange views with them on grievances that arise throughout the Union. These are increasingly being brought to the attention of Members of Parliament.
In the early days I lived in a border area where the right of freedom of movement of goods and services was not being observed and I found I could get a lot of satisfaction by raising questions directly with the Commission. In those days Parliament did not have the same power or prestige that it has today. So instead of reducing working time in this House we should devote a little more time to underlining the failures of the European Union to implement its decisions.
There are some areas that people, particularly in business, are well-familiar with, such as the single market. But there are other areas where there is a lot of confusion. I was at a conference last week. Someone pointed out the fact that we need 100 million migrant workers in this Union over the next 25 years if we are to maintain economic growth and meet our social obligations. If that happens, there will be a lot of movement of people. If, from the very beginning, the European Union and the Member States make it clear that these people have equal rights, that the conditions on which they are admitted are common conditions and that they are free to move within the Union after they enter, then citizens would be half-way towards accepting the situation and we could forestall a lot of the difficulties with migrants which are already emerging."@en1
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