Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-16-Speech-2-025"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20031216.1.2-025"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the weekend’s summit is a source of danger for Europe, but I want us to be consistent. For years, we condemned lowest-common-denominator compromises; this time, the lowest common denominator would have been a ‘Nice II’, which would have destroyed the draft constitution. Let me say, therefore, that it is better that the summit should fail than that the draft constitution for Europe should be lost.
We in Europe’s Parliament will not now allow this draft to disappear back into the archives of history. It is still on the table. Working to keep it there will be our first priority in the coming months and years, and we will have to keep working to that end even after the next European elections with our new fellow-Members here in the European Parliament. Europe is indeed in a crisis situation, and we have to face this crisis calmly. We must not allow ourselves to be influenced by soothing words about business as usual. We will overcome crises like this one not by standing still but by getting moving.
Where is this danger that hangs over Europe’s future? It does not lie in the possibility of the constitution arriving a couple of years behind schedule. It lies in a new division that is opening up in Europe. In a stronger and united Europe, there are, on the one hand, governments that seek to use it as a means of promoting their national interests and, on the other, there are governments that want to defend their interests against it. This gulf must not be allowed to get any wider; bridging it is our most important task.
At the end of the day, the dispute at your summit was about the division of power in Europe, which the world powers have long disregarded. Therein lies the danger facing Europe. While you are in Brussels, fighting tooth and nail over influence, Europe is in the process of losing all influence in the world. Such is the danger of which this summit is the source.
I will dare to say that it is easy to overcome the differences that have become apparent between the governments, but restoring people’s confidence in Europe’s future will be difficult. Yet it is that which will be our task, a task we must accomplish over the coming years and decades, a task in which I wish us all much success."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples