Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-15-Speech-2-477-000"
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"en.20111115.31.2-477-000"2
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"Mr President, the big challenge for 2012 is not only how we respond to the sovereign debt crisis and how we manage to maintain sufficient budgetary margins to prepare the future; it is nothing less than the continuation of European integration itself.
It is true that the Commission’s budgetary means are inadequate with only 1% of European gross domestic product to make things happen. We would even be tempted to paraphrase Stalin here: the Commission, how many divisions? However, that would be the wrong way of putting the problem.
The central issue is this: does the Commission still have enough authority and coherence to wield influence? Or will the answers to the major problems be found in such a ludicrous context as the one that characterised the last meeting of Heads of State or Government in Brussels?
In this Chamber, many of us believe that the speech made by President Barroso during the debate on the state of the Union would have been salutary had it been made with the same vigour in 2008, for the abundance of the proposals will not, in itself, be enough to remove the threat of European integration unravelling. From now on, it is important to tackle the very causes of the crisis, which, meanwhile, is becoming social and political.
I am aware that I have mentioned this many times already and that the novelty has worn off, but what is important, first and foremost, is the method we use in the great European project, a method that must give new impetus on the one hand and must, if need be, put pressure on Member States that are found lacking in solidarity. I am not only thinking of countries that admittedly have played a part in worsening their budgetary situation, but also, and above all, countries such as Germany. Not to mention this would be tantamount to brushing part of the problem under the carpet."@en1
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