Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-04-Speech-4-203"
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"en.20020704.10.4-203"2
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"Mr President, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there were shiploads of Europeans wanting to emigrate from Europe to Argentina. Visiting Buenos Aires today, what you experience is a fascinating mini-Europe. The peoples of Europe are united there in all their cultural richness and live peacefully together. The position is reversed today, a century and, in some cases, fifty years later, with long queues of Argentineans of European origin forming in front of the European embassies in their desire to emigrate to Europe. This is symbolic of the success of Europe and of European unification, but is also, alas, an indication of Argentina's failure. I have to say, as someone who loves and values that country beyond all measure, that this is something that we as Europeans must regret, and something that requires that we offer our help in a spirit of solidarity.
I do believe, though, that Mrs McKenna is oversimplifying matters with her references to international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It must be clear to us that Argentina is a country which really is flowing with milk and honey. It has meat, honey, milk and wine – all of it of the highest quality and available in abundance. Argentina's agriculture could feed Europe as well as its own people. Argentina has oil and natural gas, exports energy and, with its ideal conditions, is one of the richest countries in the world. That such extreme social tensions should have come about in this country – I really have seen urban areas ablaze, burning tyres on the motorways, blockades and riots – simply has to be primarily attributed to the lamentable fact that Argentina has a political system that does not work, that is inefficient and corrupt and gives rise to enormous costs. For example, in poor provinces such as Misiones, the members of the provincial legislature earn more than an MEP. I do not begrudge anyone their salary – that is not the point at issue – but Argentina has an enormously inefficient system, and if it does not sort out its home-grown problems itself, as its neighbour Brazil has made a start on doing, then we Europeans can do nothing either. We must help others to help themselves."@en1
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