Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-016"
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"en.20031216.1.2-016"2
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"Mr President, firstly, has the IGC been a failure? Surely it is just a reflection of current opinion at government level about the structure and implementation of a new EU Constitution. The lack of unanimity reflects divisions that are real within Member States, divisions which are too readily dismissed and which perhaps have been too readily dismissed in this particular debate.
To me the question is where we go from here. Is it an issue on which we have a realistic prospect of seeing progress during the course of the Irish presidency? Sweden said at the end of the IGC that it is a matter that could probably not come back before the Council until 2005, and others have talked about it not coming back for at least two years.
I say to the President-in-Office that he should dismiss much of what he has heard in the more recent speeches, not least from Mr Watson, the leader of the Liberal Group. Mr Watson was up to his sanctimonious best during the course of what I regarded as a number of cheap shots against the President-in-Office of the Council. The President-in-Office might like to know that when he was endeavouring to reach agreement in the IGC on Friday, Mr Watson had his name on the front page of the Murdoch press arguing in the United Kingdom for a referendum on the outcome of these constitutional talks. That was just a day after all his members had voted against a referendum here in this House. That inconsistency is something that we have come to recognise from Mr Watson.
It is worth reflecting that the President of the Party of European Socialists, Mr Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, has recognised what he believes the route forward should be. He said that perhaps we in Europe need to move away from this introspective constitutional debate, as it has taken up too much time and energy; and that what we need to focus on are the issues that matter to our European citizens, such as jobs and growth, the environment, human rights and quality of life. He says that we need to get closer to the citizens we were elected to serve. These are remarks he made on the BBC broadcasting in the United Kingdom. They may not be said when he comes to speak to Mr Barón Crespo's group here. However, I welcome the fact that Mr Cook has endorsed the approach I have adopted in almost every debate we have held in relation to this constitutional issue.
There is much that is contained within the draft Constitution with which I take issue. This is not the occasion to revisit that area. But all of us should be committed to the prospect of getting back in touch with what matters to our constituents; and I would just remind everyone that we face them in June of next year."@en1
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