Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-15-Speech-2-425-000"
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"en.20110215.25.2-425-000"2
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"Mr President, Mr Barroso, the necessary Treaty modification and the institutional debate that we are holding both demonstrate that, now the Treaty of Lisbon has been in force for just over a year, we can no longer resolve the challenges which the world is presenting us with by means of the Treaty as it currently stands. That is exactly what today’s debate shows. On the other hand, when we talk about the current Treaty, we are told that a wider debate about the Treaty is inconceivable and futile in the light of the situation in the Member States and, in particular in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. That is the conflict which we currently find ourselves in. We need more, but we will not be getting it from the Member States. The European Parliament must provide an answer.
If we listen to what the citizens are saying today, it is clear that they are aware that we need to introduce changes to the Treaty now. They are asking questions like: ‘How are we going to get the markets under control in the near future?’. This is why we need a strong Europe.
However, we must ask ourselves an even more important question, which is: What good is our European project doing at the end of the day? For decades, it has been responsible for peacekeeping and for bringing war on our continent to an end. This morning, I was host to a group of visitors from a school. For young people, war is, thank goodness, no longer an issue. They cannot imagine what war might be like. In our discussions, we now raise the threat of globalisation and explain that we need Europe to keep the evil of globalisation under control, but this is a negative argument. If we want to win over not only the minds, but also the hearts of the people, we must take a step further on the question of what good the European project is doing. We must talk about the pictures and ask ourselves what Europe is achieving and what its job is.
When the powerful countries in the world come together, including America, Japan, Europe, Brazil, India and so on, who will raise their hand and ask whether we are paying enough attention to social issues? China will not do so. We will have to do that ourselves. Who will raise their hand and say ‘We need to think about environmental questions’? The Americans will not do that. We will have to highlight the issue. Who will say ‘We want to maintain peace throughout the world and ensure that conflicts do not turn into wars’? We will have to do this with our historical experience.
If we look at Tunisia, it is clear that the people there want the same model which we have in Europe. We have a highly attractive way of life. Therefore, when we discuss Treaty issues, when we talk about the way in which our continent functions and the job that we have to do, we must look at the big picture, so that we win not only the minds, but also the hearts of people for our project. Then, we will succeed in gaining acceptance for it at a national level."@en1
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