mr president we frequently hear the opinion that symbols are a waste of time and that the european union should not concern itself with such irrelevant questions
rather this argument goes the european union's job is to focus on bread-and-butter issues like employment or trade
this approach is completely mistaken and wholly misunderstands what symbols are about
if you look carefully at how institutions work then it will rapidly become clear that every institution maintains a set of symbols
these symbols carry a message that people will recognise and act as a shorthand version of that institution
without institutions democratic politics cannot exist
so symbols are a necessary part of democracy that the eu regards as being central to its identity
besides if symbols were as marginal as their opponents say then why bother to oppose them
the european parliament as the pivotal democratic body of the european union has every reason to promote the symbols of europe as a means of connecting itself with the voters of europe
those who are against the symbols of europe are basically questioning european democracy itself
one could further argue that this is too fluid and crisis-ridden a time to be thinking of the symbols of europe and thus that it is not the right moment for parliament to spend time on symbols
maybe so but timing is something that always can and will be debated
in the long run it will not matter whether the symbols of parliament and of the european union are debated now or at some later date
so i give my full support to this important and cogent report
