Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-04-16-Speech-2-270-000"
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"en.20130416.39.2-270-000"2
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"Mr President, it is worth remembering that, long before it became popular, one of the first people to talk about the connection between greenhouse gases and climate change was the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, and I hope that you of all people will allow me in the circumstances to say a word or two about her.
It is almost impossible to appreciate the magnitude of her achievement without considering the calamity which preceded her: the three-day week, the prices and incomes policies and the double-digit inflation. We felt as if we were finished as a country, and by force of will she turned it round. She refused to accept that a great people would decline for ever.
Of course she is not popular here in the Councils of Europe. She was eventually brought down by a group of Conservative MPs who thought that she was wrong about opposing the single currency, but with retrospect, can anyone doubt that she got that one right? Now, in the aftermath of her death, there is division and argument, which is in a way a tribute to her. She knew that with a country that needed fixing as badly as Britain in 1979, you could not do it without upsetting some people.
In truth, the reason that she is disliked is because she never lost an election. She took a country that was ruined, bankrupt and dishonoured and left it prosperous, comfortable and free. The rage of her enemies will never be appeased because it is the rage of Caliban."@en1
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