Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-04-Speech-3-025"
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"en.20030604.2.3-025"2
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"Mr President, Presidents of the Commission and of the Council, I wish, first of all, to offer my congratulations to the Greek Presidency for the intelligent and useful work it has undertaken. We have once again seen proof that the presidencies of the European Union’s small- and medium-sized States are better and more pro-European than those of the larger countries. I wish to congratulate the Greek Presidency in particular on the way it acted during the crisis triggered by the war in Iraq, launched by the United States and the United Kingdom and supported by the government of the Spanish State. The presidency did its best to achieve peace and to combat the idea that transatlantic relations must involve the subordination, and even the humiliation, of Europe by the United States, a prospect that is all the more dismal because that country is currently governed by the militaristic far right.
Accordingly, we hope that the Convention presents the European Council with a draft Constitution that continues constructing a Union that is respected on the world stage as a body working for peace and solidarity, unlike the militarism that currently prevails. I hope that the Constitution will give this Parliament all the democratic powers that it needs, including codecision and a role in electing the president of the Commission. We are, therefore, in agreement with President Prodi’s ideas on the Council presidency. In any event, we must be able to have confidence in the future of the Union. Only recently, following the failure that was Nice, just one small group in this Parliament was calling for the Union to have a Constitution. As a European and as a political representative of a nation-state such as Galicia, of course I want the Constitution to respect the national and cultural diversity that constitutes the fabric of Europe. This is what we are calling for because Jacobin tendencies clearly still exist on our Continent. We must ask ourselves why Slovakia, Luxembourg, Estonia and Malta are recognised as European nations, but Galicia, Scotland and Catalonia are not.
I shall make one final observation: I hope that the Union’s institutions are courageous enough to end the criminal chaos that dominates international maritime traffic and which leads to disasters such as that involving the
. We must prevent the appalling deaths, such as those that occurred the day before yesterday just off the Spanish coast, of illegal immigrants seeking work in Europe. We must ensure that joint policies such as the CAP and the CFP or cohesion policy are fair and non-discriminatory. We hope that this will happen, so that everyone can benefit."@en1
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