Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-07-Speech-3-159"
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"en.20091007.17.3-159"2
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"− Mr President, I see that the debate from the Irish referendum still lives in this plenary and there is a lot to say about democracy. Is it democratic to let the Irish people vote once again? Well yes, it is. It is very democratic. If you listen to the people, you ask them: Why did you vote ‘no’? You find out the reasons. You clarify these things by giving legal guarantees to the Irish people on taxation, on neutrality, on certain ethical issues and also making a guarantee that all Member States, including Ireland, will have a commissioner when the new Treaty comes into force. With this clarification you have a new referendum. The people answered ‘yes’ with a two-thirds majority and with a higher turnout than last time. This is democratic, and I think we should rejoice and congratulate the Irish people for this.
I also see that there is a clear domestic debate from the UK in here; it would be tempting to go into that, but I will not do so. I just want to say that, independently of who is in Downing Street next year, Britain needs Europe and Europe does need Britain.
I also sense a certain frustration in here about the timetable now. I can understand that and I share it, but I want to assure the House that we move as swiftly as we can. We have guarantees or promises that the Polish President will sign within a few days. The timetable in Prague is still a little bit unclear. I will go there tonight, if I catch the plane, and will meet with lots of people tomorrow in order to get a clearer picture of the different scenarios, the different timetables that we can expect. We need a few days to grasp and to assess the situation in the Constitutional Court. The Treaty is in the Constitutional Court and, until it has left there, the President cannot sign. I am quite optimistic: I think this will be ready within a short time, but we need to wait a few days for this clarification.
Meanwhile, the Presidency is working, of course. There are lots of working groups going on in order to prepare for the full implementation of the Treaty. There are discussions going on with the European Parliament, with the Commission, in order to put everything in place that we need to do so that the Treaty can enter into force very swiftly.
I received a question from Madame Flautre about the extra MEPs; that is an issue that will have to be dealt with as soon as the Treaty enters into force, and I want to assure her, if she is listening now, that we are doing whatever we can to ensure that the decision can be made as soon as possible. I want to thank Parliament for having decided to give these MEPs observer status while we wait for the formalities once the Treaty is adopted. She also named many men who are being mentioned for the top jobs, but those are men named in the media, in the press; there are no official candidates from the Council yet. There will be. But all those names mentioned are named in the media. I would very much welcome if one of those top jobs could go to a woman. I cannot guarantee you that we will succeed with that because a Presidency has to listen to all the capitals and find candidates who can achieve a consensus among the 27 Member States, but I would very much welcome the candidacy of a woman; it would make Europe much more representative than today.
I also feel, Mr President, a very strong sensation in this House that Europe should move on to be a stronger, bigger player in the world and to show resolve when it comes to the economy, the fight against unemployment, tackling the challenges of globalisation and the climate issue. We need to do that. The Lisbon Treaty is an important tool for us to do so; but we also need to move on independently of what Treaty we have, to show concrete results and to deliver. Only when we do that, when we deliver what the citizens expect of us – and this goes for the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament – will we gain legitimacy and the confidence of our citizens. I can assure you that the Presidency is doing everything it can to move the processes on on all these issues, with the help of the European Parliament. Thank you very much for an interesting debate, Mr President."@en1
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