Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-03-Speech-3-043"
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"en.20081203.12.3-043"2
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"Madam President, I am delighted to address this Parliament once more as the recently elected leader of the British Conservative delegation. I assure you that in the run-up to the European elections I will strongly argue for the kind of Europe my party wishes to see, as well as being very critical indeed of the socialist Europe which Mr Rasmussen – who has just left us – and his colleagues wish to see in their election manifesto published this week. It certainly makes very depressing reading.
Two of my colleagues were in Mumbai with the trade delegation last week and were in great danger. May I put on record not only our condemnation of those atrocities, but also our thanks to the French Presidency in particular, for the prompt action and protection which they afforded to the Members of the European Parliament on that delegation, including my own British colleagues.
The Council has a full agenda: the economic and financial crisis, the Treaty of Lisbon, climate change and the future of the CAP. I will only concern myself with economic issues now. In the United Kingdom, the government has announced the largest level of borrowing in our history. Our Chancellor will double the national debt to GBP 1 trillion in the next five years. He has also announced giveaways of GBP 20 billion, while taking back GBP 40 billion in higher taxes. His so-called fiscal stimulus will ensure that our recession – as the Commission has rightly said – will be the longest and deepest of any in the EU. Only in countries with healthy public finances can a stimulus of the kind announced be of assistance. In the case of the UK, we are now saddled with massive borrowing for the foreseeable future.
Last week we had details of the Commission's important recovery plan, which I believe contains some very positive items, but I fear that this initiative alone may not deal with the immediate problems. The focus should be to get the banks to lend to each other and to businesses and ordinary people. With unemployment set to soar, we must build confidence, not leave a legacy of debt and higher taxes for our children and grandchildren to contend with."@en1
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