Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-06-Speech-3-137"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20090506.18.3-137"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen
you have had the immense privilege of presiding over the most original institution in the world, and we in the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance are sure that you have done so with motivation and with passion, and we thank you for this.
When, two and a half years ago, I stood against you as a candidate for the Presidency of the European Parliament on behalf of my group, I laid great emphasis on the need for the President of Parliament to represent an institution free from the interests of the Member States and the pressures exercised by financial lobbies, to guide an equally free administration chosen on the basis of merit and not of political loyalty, and to be able to speak to an increasingly divided and indifferent public. At the time, we very strongly criticised the joint decision taken by yourself and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament to rule out any attempt to relaunch the constitutional debate following the 2005 referendums, an enormous mistake that made it easier for the States to reappropriate the process of European reform.
Two and a half years later, we in the Verts/ALE Group would assess your work, President Pöttering, as having its ups and downs. We approved and supported your work in the Middle East, particularly your work in the Presidency of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. We appreciated your unwavering proEuropean belief, the idea of a Parliament open to citizens, groups, associations and the boldest cultural initiatives, and your determination over the Assistants’ Statute.
We also looked positively on your determined commitment to fundamental rights, even in places that did not sit comfortably with the majority of the European Parliament, from Russia to China, and on your new green credentials, as borne out by your comments on climate change made a short time ago.
Yet it is also clear, Mr President, that, under your presidency, our Parliament has continued its gradual transformation from an institution that demands and fights for democracy to an assembly that is all too often submissive and careful not to rock the boat of this or that government. It has resigned itself to not making this fight or transparency privileged areas in relation to which voters have visibility – one need only think of the entirely orchestrated failure of the working party on lobbies, which has come to an end today having achieved nothing despite a very explicit resolution approved a year ago, or the silence on the matter of the two seats in Strasbourg and Brussels and on that of the waste of money and CO
that is incomprehensible to our electorate.
Mr President, I will now conclude. Through the successive reforms of the rules, your presidency has also overseen the gradual centralisation of power into the hands of the few in our institution, with respect to strengthening the work of the committees and the role of individual MEPs, and doing more to promote diversity and pluralism.
Mr President, perhaps there will be a new majority in the new Parliament, but we are certain of one thing: the long fight for strong, respected, pluralist and sympathetic European democracy is not over, and at least in this we will always have you by our side."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"2"1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples