Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-13-Speech-2-017"
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"en.20070213.3.2-017"2
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"A Uachtaráin, tá tú i do bhall den teach seo le fada anois agus tá tú ar dhuine de na baill is mó a bhfuil taithí aige ar obair an tí seo. Thug tú riamh, agus tabharfaidh, tacaíocht láidir d'Institiúid na Parlaiminte ag leibhéal na hEorpa agus ar an stáitse idirnáisiúnta. Chuir tú polasaí polaitiúil uaillmhianach don dá bhliain go leith atá romhainn amach os ár gcomhair anseo inniu. Tá tacaíocht iomlán tugtha ag mo ghrúpa polaitíochta don iarracht pholaitiúil riamh agus is mar sin a bheidh amach anseo.
I would just like to say to you, Mr President, for the next two and a half years, despite the travails that we have brought against you and even though rough winds will blow on your face, you should always realise that you have the support of this House at your back.
Mr President, today is a day that we should reflect on where we have come from, but also give a vision for the future. I think that in your speech to us today, you presented not only a report card of the past, but also a clear pathway to the future.
You raised a number of points in your speech that so far none of my colleagues has touched on. The first, which is in one sense the most impressive of all, is the fact that the President of the Council, Chancellor Merkel, and the President of the Commission, President Barroso, have shown you and this House the respect to be here today to share in this occasion. It reflects well on you obviously as a German to have your leader here, but reflects still more so on this House that Angela Merkel has taken the time to be here with us, despite all the work and efforts that she is soon to take on as President of the Council.
I think it behoves us to respond to that, not just because of the presence of the office holders, but most importantly of all because of the responsibility which the voters of the European Union have placed on us as their advocates and their voices. Sometimes that brings us into conflict with the ideals of the technicians of the establishment of a new European Union. Sometimes it brings us into conflict with the demands of Member State governments. But our one sacred duty as a Parliament is to be that voice, to be the voice of reason, to be the voice of peace, to be the voice of vision, but most importantly of all, to be the voice for the voices. We must remember those who have been lost or forgotten by our societies and ensure that they can be brought forward towards that new future and given that new opportunity.
In your speech today, Mr President, the one thing I thought was fantastic – and it is the first time that I have heard it from anybody in this House with such real sincerity – was what you said about the role of young people within Europe: your idea of having a new programme for young people, a prize for young people, to allow the new generation to appreciate and understand what we already can understand from our own history.
As my colleagues rightly said, we speak about America’s defeat of communism and Nazism. They played a role. Let us not deny that Europe would have died without American assistance in the 1940s. Let us not forget that Europe would have died without American assistance in 1918. Let us not forget that, without the assistance of the US in the 1960s and 70s, we would have been under constant and immediate threat from further war and violence. But, let us not also forget that those men and women of vision – whether it was in Solidarity in Poland, the Hungarian uprising, the Spring Revolution, the Velvet Revolution or Pope John-Paul II – all brought a belief in the dignity of human beings, the dignity of difference and the right for people to speak up and to be free in all walks of life. That not only defeats totalitarianism, it defeats all ills which face humankind today and that is why your idea of a cultural dialogue, of an understanding of different faiths and traditions is so important for the future development of Europe. If you read about us, Europe does not present a threat to anybody, of any faith or of none. Indeed, in a lot of ways we tend to become so liberal that we forget about pluralism. We forget about understanding some people who have strongly-held beliefs of a non-violent nature and tend to hound them out of office or out of positions, but at the same time, we can show accommodation to those that have a fairly radical viewpoint in life and give them a space for themselves.
The last two points I would like to make are in relation to the comments made by some colleagues and by the Presidents of both the Commission and the Council in relation to the development of European policy in the future. Maybe I am misinterpreting what the people are saying, but European citizens are fed up with the nitty-gritty talk about institutional change and reforms. What European citizens want to see is action; what European citizens want to see is a positive response to the problems that face us.
We have had some progress towards tackling climate change, social policy and other issues of importance in the single market, but citizens want to see action being taken on a real level that affects their lives in real ways, rather than mere reaction to problems when they arise. Too often in this Parliament we look back and say ‘that was done wrong in 1979’ or ‘this was done wrong in 1992’ or something else was done wrong in 1997 or ‘we missed an opportunity’. Let us not forget that politics is an art, whereas economics is a science and you get the right result every time if you use the right formula. Politics is an art because it must respond to the needs of society, to the wants and desires of people and, more importantly of all, to the volatility of society as a whole.
Lastly, the most pressing task that we have before us in creating a fairer area of peace and understanding is in the Middle East. I applaud your desire to visit Lebanon, Palestine and Israel and to start to build that process. Europe must be re-involved at a central level in finding the solution to peace in the Middle East."@en1
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